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 in November 2024, the Chief Executive Officer of Ashanti Ports Services Limited (APSL), Mr Isaac Afum and concessionaire to the project, has disclosed.
Mr Isaac Afum disclosed this here on Thursday when he led officials from the APSL to witness the progress of work on the $330 million project which had been stalled for nearly two decades, due to many teething problems including mobilisation.
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.
Last Thursday’s visit to the site saw earth-moving machinery busily working on the terminal area where about 80 per cent of the filling has been completed.
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.
The project would 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.
Mr Afum was optimistic that the completion of the project would not only boost business opportunities in the region, but also create jobs for the masses, especially youth, through direct and indirect employment.
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.
“My gratitude also goes to the Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah and the Shippers Authority for their continuous support and the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, for his role, advice, and unflinching support to the progress of the project,” he added.
According to him, additional funding for the project was secured as Africa Export-Import Bank (Afeximbank) was committing some 280 million dollars into the project, adding that, another financier from Italy was also supporting it with an additional $ 100 million.
The Ghana Shippers Authority is the client for the project, while the concessionaire is Ashanti Ports Services Limited, a joint venture of Afum Quality Limited of Ghana .
The Project Manager of the Boankra Inland Port, Jarrar Saddique, who briefed the media about the progress of work, said once they were done with the entire surfacing, work and the drainage system, mounting or erecting of the structures would now start.
The Board Chairman of Ashanti Ports Services Limited, Nana Bugyei, pledged their support for the successful completion of the project.
The project will also offer significant employment opportunities for both skilled and unskilled labour.
FROM TIMES REPORTER, EJISU
