The Ministry of Railways Development has disclosed hurdles impeding the initiation of operations for the Tema-Mpakadan rail line.
Delays are being attributed to difficulties encountered during the construction phase.
Ing Kwabena Osei Bonsu, a technical advisor at the Ministry, disclosed that the project encountered a notable setback upon reaching the Akosombo area.
The designated route’s closeness to the hydro dam prompted apprehensions that essential blasting could pose risks to the dam’s structural integrity.
“The line was going to use the Multi-modal Transport System so we were going to use Akosombo, transfer onto the Volta Lake and get to Buipe in the north but we realised that the state, where the current port is, is very small and couldn’t contain the kind of terminal that we wanted to put there and at some point within the Akosombo area, the line was going to be 50 metres to the dam and due to the kind of blasting that is needed to be done, we did not want to compromise the integrity of the dam, so we changed the alignment.
“Currently at Mpakadan, what we have is the rear head that has the rail line and several sitings with space for the storage of containers.
“The next thing we are going to do on that section is to build a ramp port so that when ships come to deck, we will be able to move the containers.” he said on Citi FM.
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