www.padfm.com.gh – Savannah region, Ghana
The Savannah regional minister, Saeed Muhazu Jibril has on behalf of government of Ghana handed over site for the construction of the Savannah Inland Port located at Debre traditional area in the central Gonja district of the Savannah region.
Addressing the media after a successful stakeholder consultation and signing of a lease agreement between the Debre traditional authorities and LMI Logistics for commencement of work, Saeed Muhazu Jibril described the project as the single largest investment project in the region and is hopeful that it will help decrease youth unemployment and improve the socio-ecomic lives of the people of the area.
Ghana government is partnering LMI logistics, a wholly owned Ghanaian company, to develop an Inland port at Kpasara at the Debre Traditional Area in the Central Gonja district of the Savannah Region.
Muhazu Jibril said the project will impact the economic development of the area and the entire northern sector.
“This is one of the single most important investments that is going to happen to the people of the north, so for the Savannah region to have had this one it means a lot because in building a new region of this sort, you have to look at economic development, that should be a priority. LMI logistics is only coming to create a port, there is the second leg of it. That is creating of an industrial park.”
“The port has to do with 219 acres of land, and the industrial park is going to take 1000 acres, so you are going to have other investors coming to build hotels, some coming to build restaurants, some coming to even open private clinics, so that means we have not only created an Inland port, but we have created other economic opportunities”, he further explained.
The Savannah regional minister also assured residents of the Debre traditional area, that the government will make sure local contentis considered heavily in terms of employment during the development and operation of the port.
“We have to keep talking to each other, keep engaging each other so that at the end of the day, the people get to understand what number of jobs are coming, how many are you giving to the people around this area, so we are going to make sure we engage the investor to make sure it is done.”
General Manager of LMI logistics, Emmanuel Menu said his outfit will hold more stakeholder engagements that are capable of leading to the necessary compensations for people whose livelihoods depend on the area to be developed, this will lead to quick and safe development of the Inland Port.
“We will never operate in an area and make the people worse off, it will never happen. We will definitely discuss with them to openly tell them what we want, and we will also give them the timeliness in terms of when to start and when to finish. I can tell you for a fact, this project is for the people, it’s not for Mr. Kojo Bonsuo Aduhene but the people in this area, and the future generation and connecting through to Burkina Faso to Niger.”
The Debre inland port site has been leased to the LMI Logistics and is aimed at providing services to importers and exporters in the middle and northern parts of Ghana, as well as provide an avenue for the transportation of goods to landlocked countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. Plans for the further development of the Inland Port will include an Inland Container Depot, a port administration, shippers and freight forwarders offices, warehouses, and commercial buildings, he added.
The development of other infrastructure such as roads, drains, water supply, sewage, electricity, and telecommunications, Inland Ccearance Depot, Custom Bonded, and Unbonded Estates, Vehicle and Car Parking Lots, and Commercial Estates will also be undertaken at the area.
www.padfm.com.gh – Abdulai Zulkaninu – 0242381890
