The $330 million Boankra Integrated Logistics Terminal (BILT), popularly known as the Boankra Inland Port project, in the Ejisu Municipality in the Ashanti Region, has received further financial support to ensure its completion and operationalisation.
The Chief Executive Officer of Ashanti Ports Services Limited (APSL), Mr Isaac Afum and Concessionaire to the project, has affirmed that the Africa Export-Import Bank (Afeximbank) is committing some US$280 million into the project.
He said another financier from Italy was also supporting it with an additional $100 million.
The CEO disclosed this when he led officials from the APSL to acquaint themselves with the progress of work on the $330 million project which had been stalled for nearly two decades due to many teething problems.
The project was supposed to be completed and handed over to the government in November 2024.
Mr Affum said the Ghanaian contractors on the project, Justmoh Construction Limited, had assured that the project would be handed over on schedule.
The CEO expressed the hope that the completion of the project would not only boost business opportunities in the region, but would also create jobs for the masses, especially the youth, through direct and indirect employment.
He said, when completed, over 7000 workers would be created, as well as informal job opportunities within the region and beyond.
The project will also offer significant employment opportunities for both skilled and unskilled labour.
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 also 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.
The project comprises a COCOBOD terminal which will facilitate exportation of cocoa in the Ashanti region to other neighbouring countries.
He stressed both COCOBOD and Tema Oil Refinery will get their terminals within the Port and it will ensure that cocoa from the Ashanti Region are easily exported to the other neighboring countries.
Mr. Afum expressed the hope that the proposed railway line will be constructed on time for the smooth operation of the Port and hoped the railway project will not hinder the operation of the Inland Port.
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.
Mr. Afum also thanked the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah and the Ghana Shippers Authority, the client for the project, for their continuous support towards the progress of the project.
The Project Manager of the Boankra Inland Port, Jarrar Saddique, who briefed the media about the progress of work, said once the entire surfacing, work and the drainage system were done, mounting or erecting of the structures would start.
