Ghana Manganese commits $10m to revamp railway

The Ghana Manganese Company has committed $10million to support the rehabilitation of the country’s railway sector.

The money which will be an upfront payment for the services of the Ghana Railway Company, will be invested into the rehabilitation of the railway from Tarkwa to Nsuta. Work on the project is expected to be completed in seven months.

Repayment of the facility will last for three and a half months after the seven months completion deadline and according to the Railways Development Minister, Joe Ghartey, the move is strategic.

“For Ghana Railway Company Limited, if they carry eighty thousand tons of manganese a month they will be able to pay for their up keep. The first three months of this year, Ghana Railway Company Limited was able to do that, after that when the rains set in the line started deteriorating and at a certain point it had gone as low as thirty thousand tons per month” he told journalist at a press briefing recently.

He added that, “Let me put on record that the budget this year was five hundred and eighteen million dollars for the railway sector and so out of this about forty million dollars was set aside for the western line.”

The Chief Executive Officer of Consmin, partners in the project, Oleg V. Sheyko is hopeful the move will not only boost the production of Ghana Manganese Company but see the creation of more jobs.

“We hope to increase up to three million tons this year but also create commercial business centers along the line for the people of Ghana living in the area.”