Laudia Sawer
Accra, July 19, GNA – The Jamestown Fishing Harbour in Accra, constructed under a US$50 million Chinese Government Grant, is expected to commence operations before this year ends.
It is situated on 60,000 square metres of land and has modern facilities, including an ice-making plant that could produce 60 tonnes of ice per day on average. It took four years to construct.
It is also equipped with a cold store with a storage capacity of 200 tonnes of fish, in addition to two workshops, a fish market that could accommodate 200 sellers per day, ancillary stalls, an administration block, and a creche for children.
Mr Michael Achagwe Luguje, the Director General of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), together with other management staff, paid a working visit to the project site ahead of the official handover and commissioning.
Mr Luguge expressed satisfaction at the work done, stating that the GPHA would leverage its experience in fishing port management on the facility while urging the fishing community and stakeholders to work hand in hand with his outfit to take good care of the fishing harbour.
He said the fishing ports by nature are not huge income-generating facilities and would continue to be expensive to maintain, but the GPHA had to add them as part of its collective responsibility as they see the fishing harbours more as welfare projects that are supposed to at least enhance the community and livelihoods.
“We have that responsibility to make sure that they are efficiently managed.
Definitely, users of the facility will use them for a fee. They will make some contributions towards covering the operating costs. We can only be grateful to the government and, of course, to the Chinese government for this partnership that has led to this facility,” he said.
Mr Komla Ofori, the General Manager in charge of Engineering at the GPHA, noted that approximately 4,000 people would work at the fishing harbour daily, adding that they had used the site optimally to get the best facilities in this small space.
He expressed the belief that even the land facilities far exceeded what the sea could bring.
“So, if you’re expecting canoes to bring fish here, the volume of fish that will come in here will not be enough for the land facilities that we have. Ice, for example, may have to be sold to people on land who may need ice for other things or fish brought from elsewhere for storage, depending on what the situation will be,” he said.
The Jamestown Fishing Harbour is part of an initiative by the Government through the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development to construct and rehabilitate fishing harbours and landing sites, respectively, in 12 coastal towns in Ghana, to help maintain a hygienic environment for handling and processing fish as well as minimise post-harvest losses.
The beneficiary towns include Axim, Dixcove, Moree, Mumford, Winneba, Senya Breku, Gomoa Fete, Ekumfi, Elmina, Teshie, Jamestown, and Keta.
The GPHA, as Ghana’s agency responsible for the building, managing, and operating of all ports and port-related infrastructure in Ghana, is supervising the construction and rehabilitation of all 12 fishing ports and landing site projects.
GNA