Paga (U/E), March 7, GNA – The Minister of Transport, Mr Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, has commissioned the Paga Transit Truck Park in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region to improve bilateral relations and facilitate transit trade through the Paga border.
The 30,000 square metre facility valued at Gh¢18.5 million, has rest rooms for the long-distance truck drivers, and lavatories to ensure they properly rested before they proceeded on their journeys.
Mr Asiamah, who addressed stakeholders, including traditional rulers from the Paga and Navrongo Traditional Councils at a ceremony to commission the facility, said the event marked another milestone in the Maritime industry as part of government’s effort to improve bilateral relations through the country’s corridors.
He said transit trade was vital for economic transformation and regional trade, which offered multiple benefits to surrounding regions and unlocked the economic potentials of those regions.
He said the 1992 Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol on Inter-State transport of cargo allowed for the transportation of goods by road from one Custom office in a Member-State to another Member-State without restrictions while in transit.
The Sector Minister said, “Ghana’s strategic location, therefore, puts a number of landlocked countries within its catchment areas including Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali.
“It is for these reasons among others that the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has, and continuous to invest in port infrastructure and cutting-edge technology to modernize and make Ghana’s Ports and transit corridors the preferred choice within the sub-region.”
He said the construction of the Paga Transit Truck Park was another intervention in addition to a similar facility in Tema, in the Greater Accra Region, adding that government, through the Ministry and its Agencies was constantly on the look-out for prospects and opportunities that would inure to the benefit of stakeholders.
Mr Asiamah said the park until its construction was not the best parking place for trucks, and made the country’s transit corridor unattractive, “I am therefore elated that the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority devoted resources into the construction of this beautiful truck park in Paga to serve our cherished transit traders in landlock countries.”
He noted that the Park was not only meant for transit cargo drivers, but local drivers and other vehicles that use the corridor, “I am of the firm believe that this facility will not only help in facilitating transit trade along Ghana’s corridor, but will also ensure that we attract other businesses to the country.”
The Minister admonished truck drivers to make good use of the facility and desist from parking along the sides of the road as that exerted pressure on the roads, and additional funding to reconstruct the road when it starts deteriorating.
He commended the contractor and the Board and Management of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) for leading the charge in the country’s quest to make trading on the corridors hustle-free.
“To the Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority, the Ghana Immigration Service, the Ghana Police Service and all other collaborators in this transit trade enterprise, I say kudos to you for the efficient and effective manner in which you handled affairs here so far,” Mr Asiamah said.
GNA