GHANA – The government of Ghana is undertaking the construction and rehabilitation of Elmina fishing port, tagged to cost €85m (US$100m), in a bid to boost the fishing Industry.
The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo broke the ground for the commencement of the project scheduled for completion within 12 months.
About sixty percent of the nation’s annual protein derived from fishing, and the sector employs about 20% of the nation’s work force.
The President stated, “This is one of the reasons why we made a decision to continually improve the infrastructure and conditions of the fishing industry to help improve our catch, cut down post-harvest losses and reduce fish imports in the medium to long term.”
According to the Ghana Presidency press-release, the project was originally set to be financed by the CDB Loan from China, however, the government has secured separate funding from Belgium.
It will be executed by Bellsea Limited, member of the DEME Group, specializing in land reclamation, port infrastructure development and offshore related services.
The Project will first undertake the upgrading of existing facilities such as administration building, the slipways, workshop and maintenance dredging of the existing Port.
Secondly, a new fishing harbour will be constructed with a main breakwater and a quay wall to enable larger fishing vessels to safely moor and offload with a dedicated access road to the Port, and a warehouse for storage.
Other new works include establishment of a shed for the fish market; a shed for fishing net mending; two cold stores/ ice factories and a new slipway for bigger vessels with a boat refurbishment area.
The project is in line with government’s ongoing programme to rehabilitate and construct fishing ports and landing sites along the coastal stretch of the country.
Last year, the government commenced the construction of eleven modern landing sites at Axim, Moree, Mumford, Winneba, Senya Beraku, Gomoa Fete and Elmina in the Central Region, Teshie and James Town in the Greater Accra Region, and Keta in the Volta Region.
Already, work is progressing steadily at all the locations, with the sites at Axim, Dixcove, Senya Beraku and Gomoa Fetteh scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
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