By Ewoenam Kpodo
Aflao (VR), Nov 26, GNA – Mrs Enyonam Apetorgbor, Chief Executive Officer of Keta Investment Promotion Centre, has called on the government to see the proposed Keta Port “as a strategic economic intervention project and not a political project.”
The call followed the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government dubbed the “Unity Budget (Nkabom Budget)” presented to Parliament on Thursday, November 24.
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance, who presented the budget on the authority of the President, stated that the Keta Port was substantially completed.
Mrs Apetorgbor, in a release copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the Minister’s statement on page 27 of the document that substantial work had been done on the port was far from reality and that “the Minister and for that matter the government appears to be making fun or political mockery of the Keta Port project.”
“There is nothing by way of development ongoing at the supposed site. The only landmark at the site is a notice board and a container office building showcasing the site. The notice board has shown everyone in Ghana by now the proposed location of the Keta Port; let us see the Keta Port now.”
The release said apart from a port at Keta helping to open up the region to national and international businesses that would rake in a lot of revenue for the state, it meant a lot more to the three coastal constituencies in the region thus, its development must not be reduced to politics.
“We expect that upon completion, the Keta Port project will open up the region for industrialisation, private investments and jobs for the youths.
Aside the strategic economic impact of the port, we expect the development of the Keta Port to provide a sustainable solution to the perennial flooding that hits the southern part of Volta, specifically, Keta, Anlo and Ketu South.”
The government has, for the past two years, initiated processes aimed at seeing to fruition, a port at Keta, which include signing an executive instrument that demarcates the area for the port, advertising for tenders for feasibility studies and appointing a director for the proposed port.
Mr Hassan Sulemana Tampuli, Deputy Minister of Transport, who spoke on behalf of Mr Kweku Ofori Asiamah, the Minister during a ceremony at Asadame, Keta Municipality in April this year, said processes were far advanced for the construction of Ghana’s third commercial port.
GNA