Port Of Keta Will Boost Ghana’s Industrialization Drive When Completed – Dr. Alexander Adusei Jnr.
The Director of Port of Keta, Dr. Alexander Adusei Jr. has projected that when the Port of Keta is completed, it will serve as an agribusiness hub for Ghana and complement the nation’s efforts in embarking on an aggressive industrialization agenda that would serve as a springboard for a Ghana that is beyond aid.
Speaking on Eye on Port, the first Director of the Port of Keta, explained that such an infrastructure like a port would open up opportunities for investment into the agribusiness and manufacturing industry for the Volta basin of Ghana which is blessed with enormous agricultural potential.
“We have a fertile crescent in the Volta Region. Why shouldn’t our farmers get value for money? Why can’t we take the produce and process them for export? We have arable lands that have not been cultivated. So agrobusiness is an area we will look at,” he expressed.
He said the Port of Keta, which is currently a greenfield project, when completed would also open up investments into the exploration and exploitation of mineral resources that the Volta basin is endowed with, and that could significantly augment Ghana’s export potential as well.
“We believe that once you have a major port in that area, those industries would spring up themselves and you would have investor interest. Because they know for sure that coming there, they would have other antecedent projects there.”
Dr. Adusei Jr. expressed ambition that when the Port of Keta is eventually built, it could tap into the potential of the cruise business with a cruise terminal that would take advantage of the many tourist sites in the Volta region of the country and increase the country’s gains in tourism.
“Because Keta is a greenfield project, it could be built for cruise purposes where people could come in with their boats, go through customs and immigration, and then to their hotels where they would have opportunity to tour the country or cross borders to neighboring countries if they want to,” he said.
He said the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority is not envisaging to build the Port of Keta to compete with the cargo traffic from Tema and Takoradi, but to be a port that can generate its own economy in the area to complement the existing two national ports.
He highlighted that some cluster of production sectors has therefore been envisaged by the Port Authority which it hopes to tap into once the Port of Keta is built.
The Director of the Port of Keta said these reasons are why a solid foundation has to be created for the successful realization of the Port project, and why the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority and its technical partners have to engage all the necessary procedures to ensure that the masterplan for that port is duly implemented.
