Whither the rail line to the North?

A feature article by Paul Achonga Kwode

News of the extension of rail line to the Northern sector of the country was
planned by the former political administration under the NPP was spread like bush
fire and received with much joy and high expectations that at long last the people
of the area were going to see, travel and engage in effective business activities to
the southern sector of the country through rail transportation.

That was not all as it was expected that the carnage on the roads which since
time immemorial led to the loss of several thousands if not millions of lives of
people who travel mostly by road was going to be a thing of the past. It also meant
that the heavy vehicles that contribute to the road carnages were also going to
reduce their usage of the roads because most of the heavy goods could be carried by
train. Besides, the huge government budgets spent annually in the construction and
maintenance of roads mostly caused by heavy vehicles would be minimized. These heavy
vehicles do not only cause most accidents but reduce the lives-span of our roads and
the construction of a rail line to the north was hoped to address many including
these problems.

It was therefore a moment of joy and a sigh of relief when the current President
Professor John Evans Atta Mills assured the people of the western region that
government was committed to constructing and strengthening the rail system to that
part of the country. This is presumably because the oil fined in that area which
would soon be transported to various parts of the country and the neighbouring
countries was going to be done by rail. Recently, rehabilitation works had started
on those rail lines indicating a mark of commitments but how sustainable and evenly
would that be?
The Ghana Railway Corporation is the operator of railways in Ghana. The Ghana
Railways Company Limited is a public sector body with a responsibility for the
efficient management of the national rail system so as to enhance the smooth
movement of goods and passengers.
Operations of the Company commenced in 1898 under the Gold Coast Civil Service
with headquarters in Sekondi. The headquarters was transferred to Takoradi following
the construction of Takoradi Harbour and railways and ports were jointly
administered as the Ghana Railway and Ports Authority. In 1976, SMCD 95 separated
the railway from ports as the Ghana Rail Corporation. The company enjoyed the status
of a public corporation until March 19, 2001 when it became a limited liability
company. The original 304-kilometer (189mil) Eastern Railway was built in 1923 by
the British for the purpose of hauling of minerals and cocoa. Construction of the
Ghana Railways started in West Africa before there were any port facilities and
locomotive and other equipment had to be lightered over the beach.
Available information indicates that Ghana government has on paper the
construction, rehabilitation and expansion of the rail system from Kumasi; Boankra
inland port, Kumasi-Paga through Buipe to connect the Volta lake, Achimoter-Tema
port, Tamale-Yendi to connect Sheini/Shieni (227m) iron deposit, Bosusi-Kibi to
connect the bauxite deposit at Kibi and branch lines linking the towns where other
mineral deposits have been identified.
Another line is planned to be constructed, rehabilitated and expanded from
Takoradi through Manso, Tarkwa, Huni Valley, Dunkwa Awaso, Nyinahin, Sunyani,
Techiman, Bole, Sawla, Wa through to Hamile in the Upper West Region of Ghana.
Ghana’s ancient railways in April, 2005 sought 1.6 billion dollars to upgrade
and give the rail system a useful life of development projects which would see it
extending to the northern parts of the country and stronger links to the landlocked
countries of Burkina Faso, Benin and others but failure suffered the progress of the
project. The country was said to be vigorously implementing strategic initiatives to
expand and modernize the country's century-old railway system. The government
solicited external financial support to undertake feasibility studies geared towards
the estimated $1.6bn project and parliament passed a new act establishing the Ghana
Railway Development Authority (GRDA).
According to former President Kufuor, "The GRDA will be responsible for the
national rail network expansion, the Accra-Tema suburban rail network and will
manage rail assets, regulate rail operations, as well as carry out future railway
development programmes for the government" (Africa Business reports). In April 2003,
the government established a new Ministry for Ports, Harbours and Railways.
According to the then minister, Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, "the aim is to provide
unhindered access to Ghana from its marine frontiers, besides facilitating access to
all parts of the country by rail." The rail network is managed by the Ghana Railway
Company Ltd (GRCL), a public sector organization. It owns and operates a 1,300km
track network comprising the Western, Central and Eastern Lines. The network has
five major branch lines-three on the Western Line and one each on the Eastern and
the Central Lines but nothing much than political lip-service did
the minister do to upgrade the system. "As part of the Ghanaian government’s
long-term development plan," Ameyaw-Akumfi said, "it proposed to expand the
existing rail network from southern Ghana to northern Ghana."
Extending the railway to the north of the country will not only open up the
entire nation but reduce the high prices charged for food transported by road. The
existing and proposed Eastern Line also appears viable and would reduce dependence
on the Western Line which is currently the mainstay of the rail system in the
country. Transport experts also insist that the proposed ECOWAS line can boost the
region's economies. It was a good idea when the Eastern corridor road was mentioned
in the 2009 budget but since then, nothing had been done on the project.
One of the major focuses of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy II (GPRSII) in
the support services was the railway sector. The document noted that there are
insufficient and dilapidated rail terminals and platforms. Besides, it added that
there were dilapidated rail tracks and lack of appropriate linkages of tracks for
economically beneficial purpose and spelt out strategies to ameliorate the situation
but your guesses are as good as mine that again it was another slogan and sad to
know how much had been spent on formulating such programmes and policies that are
left sitting in the shelves engulfed by dust.
Indeed, politicians are so cunning that they seem to know almost all the
problems facing the country when it comes to campaign times and use such positive
ideas to solicit votes but forget those brilliant ideas upon which they were voted
to power. They also either through selfish desires and uncommitted promises due to
parochial interest and so pretends to care about the masses. The rail sector
situation is no different that the politicians are aware of our problems but how and
when to tackle these developmental dilemmas.
The GPRS II stated that there should be a link between the northern part of
the country to the south through an efficient rail network and to promote the
development of a well integrated and modernized rail track system. It also said the
government should promote the development of regional rail network and ports
facilities but sad to note that 52 years as a country, even road networks linking
the Upper West to Northern and Upper East Regions are inaccessible.
The talk-shops of the politicians are too much for our liking and the earlier
they start implementing the brilliant ideas for the country, the better we stop
building castles in the air or playing the ostrich and tap the untapped resources
for improved infrastructure for accelerated growth. The question therefore is,
“Whither the rail line to the North”.