By James Amoh Junior, GNA
Accra, July 12, GNA – Mr Mohammed Sahara, the Chief Executive of the Meridian Port Services (MPS), has lauded the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) for its exemplary performance in delivering the port expansion project on time and within budget.
The collaboration between MPS and CHEC has significantly enhanced the operational capacity and efficiency of Ghana’s largest port.
The expansion project, a critical component of Ghana’s strategy to bolster its logistics infrastructure, was awarded to CHEC after a competitive tender process.
Mr Samara praised the Chinese firm for the commitment to excellence, noting that the bid offered not only the best value but also advanced technological solutions and superior design capabilities.
“We evaluated multiple tenders and selected CHEC because they demonstrated the best value, not just in price but also in the quality of machinery and construction methods. We wanted a company that had a convincing design,” the Chief Executive said in an interview with a team of journalists from China and Ghana, who visited the port on Wednesday.
The team, on a collaborative tour, included journalists from the People’s Daily Newspaper in China, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) and the Ghana Broadcasting Cooperation (GBC).
It was, among others, to strengthen the long-standing bilateral relations between China and Ghana particularly the growing trade relations between the two countries.
The lead contractors of the Tema Port and Container Terminal Expansion, CHEC, expanded the capacity of the 127-hectare port with four container vessel berths, 3,558 meters of breakwater and 1,400 m of wharf.
Mr Samara stated that the partnership between MPS and CHEC led to the deployment of the largest dredger on the West Coast of Africa at the time with other state-of-the-art equipment for the project.
“We saw a serious deployment of equipment and engineering skills. Some of the engineers that worked on site were top-notch and I have a lot of respect for them through the experience,” he said.
He observed that the timely completion of the project was a significant achievement, particularly given the complexities and challenges inherent in large-scale infrastructure developments.
The Chief Executive said CHEC met all key milestones, ensuring that the project stayed on schedule and within the allocated budget. “We had a project delivered on time, meeting our development plan and staying within the budget set by our shareholders,” he noted.
That level of efficiency and financial discipline, he added, was crucial for maintaining investor confidence and ensuring the sustainable growth of the Port.
Mr Samara said as a result of the port expansion project, there had been an introduction of several innovative features, including a pioneering birthing window scheme to reduce congestion and advanced digital systems for tracking and managing shipments.
Those enhancements had positioned MPS as a leader in port operations, with the capacity to handle increased trade volumes and improve service delivery, he said.
The Chief Executive said MPS’s commitment to workforce development as majority of the new technology were operated by a skilled Ghanaian team and that continuous training programmes were in place to ensure that local workers were better equipped to manage the advanced systems implemented during the expansion.
He expressed gratitude to the CHEC team for the dedication and professionalism, acknowledging that the successful completion of the project was a result of effective teamwork and mutual respect.
On future engagements and cooperation, Mr Samara said, “we are committed to excellence and if that will come from China, certainly we are committed to that.”
Mr Emmanuel Ohene Addo, Operations Manager, MPS , who took the journalists round the Port, said with the four berths, it was able to handle four different vessels at a time.
He cited a 14,000 capacity CMA CGN-Brazil Vessel (366 meters), which had berthed at the Port and was offloading some 8000 20-feet containers as an example of the capacity of the Tema Port.
GNA