Minister of Transport tours port of Takoradi

The Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah as part of his maiden visit to the Western region has visited the port of Takoradi and other state agencies under his ministry.

The visit was to enable the Minister to know at first-hand the various sectors under the ministry and become acquainted with their operations.

The minister was accompanied by the Chief Director of the Ministry,Twumasi-Ankra Selby, and other officials.

Their first point of call was the port of Takoradi where they were met by the Director of Takoradi Port, Capt. Ebenezer Afedzi, and key management staff including the General Manager, Administration of GPHA, Kumi-Adjei Sam.

Captain Afedzi briefed the minister about the operations at the port before conducting him round to inspect ongoing projects under the Takoradi Port expansion programme, as well as other private investors at the port.

The delegation were taken to the Takoradi fabrication yard where export gas manifold and a suction pile are being constructed for the oil fields.

The Minister also visited the newly constructed safe bond off-dock terminal, which has started receiving vehicles.

The Director of Takoradi port also lead the Minister to the new constructed bulk jetty where he inspected work done so far.

The team proceeded also to the site where marine gas oil tanks are being constructed by the leading oil marketing company on the country, GOIL.

The delegation also visited the Takoradi Container Terminal which has a holding capacity of 7500 TEUs of imported containers to ensure that efficient services are delivered to customers.

The minister also visited the Albert Bosomtwi Sam Fishing Harbour to abreast himself of the operations there.

He visited General electrics and the FMC technologies where Christmas trees are being fabricated for Ghana’s jubilee fields.

The respective managers at the various units and locations, such as the General Electricals, Oil and Gas, Goil Tank Farmer, Vikings Offshore, LPG Distribution Point and Bulk Jetty took turns to brief the minister about their operations.

The Minister for his part, urged the management to ensure that more local people were employed to fulfil the local content clause of providing jobs for the community members.

“Continue to work in this country, next year by the time I come here the Ghanaians that you employed who are 27, should be 54,” he said.

Mr. Asiamah promised to address some of the challenges confronting the industry players working in the port.

“The agencies are there some of them are facing challenges but it’s a work in progress so long as they continue to work, these challenges will come but what you need to do as a government is that you try as much as possible to resolve some of these issue,” he said.

Other sectors the minister visited under the Transport Ministry include the State Transport Company, Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority, Road Safety Commission, Metro Mass Transport, Ghana Maritime Authority and the Ghana Shippers Authority.