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Chief Executive Officer of Ashanti Ports Services Limited (APSL), Mr Isaac Afum has disclosed that the Boankra Integrated Logistics Terminal (BILT), popularly known as the Boankra Inland Port project in the Ejisu Municipality in the Ashanti Region, will be completed and handed over to the government ahead of the November 2024 schedule.
Mr Isaac Afum, who is the concessionaire to the project, announced that BILT has received further financial support to ensure its completion and operationalization, adding that the project is progressing steadily.
The CEO who spoke to OTECNEWS expressed the hope that the completion of the project would not only boost business opportunities in the region, but would also create jobs for the masses, especially the youth, through direct and indirect employment.
The $330 million project which had been stalled for nearly two decades due to many teething problems including mobilisation.
Currently, the contractor is almost done with the construction of the drainage and other earthworks.
He commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his support and confidence in picking a local concessionaire for the development of the Boankra Inland Port.
Mr. Afum also thanked the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah and the Ghana Shippers Authority, the client for the project, for their continuous support towards the progress of the project.
Mr Affum said the Ghanaian contractors on the project, Justmoh Construction Limited, was within schedule and that barring any challenges, the project would be handed over on schedule.
When completed it would have among other things, an inland clearance depot, customs bonded and unbonded estates, commercial areas, such as banks, offices and trading facilities, vehicle parking and light industrial areas and an administration block complex.
Mr. Afum expressed the hope that the proposed railway line will be constructed on time for the smooth operation of the Port and hoped the railway project will not hinder the operation of the Inland Port.
He said, when completed, over 7000 workers would be created, as well as informal job opportunities within the region and beyond.
The project will also offer significant employment opportunities for both skilled and unskilled labour.
It would have, among other things, an inland clearance depot, customs bonded and unbonded estates, commercial areas, such as banks, offices and trading facilities, vehicle parking and light industrial areas and an administration block complex.
The project would also provide services for importers and exporters in the middle and the northern parts of the country and also act as a major conduit for the efficient transportation of transit traffic to and from our neighbouring landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
The project comprises a COCOBOD terminal that will facilitate the exportation of cocoa in the Ashanti region to other neighbouring countries.
He stressed that both COCOBOD and Tema Oil Refinery will get their terminals within the port, and it will ensure that cocoa from the Ashanti Region are easily exported to the other neighbouring countries.
