The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress(NDC) John Mahama has promised to start a plan, design and feasibility study for the construction of a new city outside Accra to ease the growing congestion.
This will help create a new growth pole and create hundreds of thousands of jobs during the construction phase and after completion.
“We will commence a feasibility study with a plan to construct a new city. Accra is grid-locked, and the time has arrived for us to relocate certain parts of the government services from Accra.
“Accra will remain the capital, but we will transfer a portion of it elsewhere. There is already available land on the Accra Plains and the opposite bank of the Volta Lake,” he stated.
While Accra remains the capital, the time has come to decongest it by relocating some of the government ministries, departments, agencies and financial institutions outside the city.
Mr Mahama believes a future city could straddle three regions including Greater Accra, Eastern and Volta Regions and would be close to the Volta Lake with abundant water.
The new city would be a green and digital city and have tourist and amusement attractions, industrial parks and financial services. He said the new city will be a 24 hour city and would not sleep.
He said much of the investments for the new city will be leveraged by the private sector and through public private partnerships.
The former President made these revelations in an interaction with the European Union Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.
“Moreover, we are establishing a port terminal in Mpakadan to transport cargo to the northern part of the country. There is abundant land in that area, allowing us to relocate some ministries, agencies, and departments out of the city and alleviate congestion.
“I anticipate that this project may take around 20 years to complete, but we need to take the first steps. Subsequent generations can then continue where we left off,” he added.
The former President while on the Building Ghana Tour also assured citizens of decongesting the industrial enclave of the Tema area towards the western corridor for industrialization and job creation.
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