The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) has commissioned the newly constructed transit truck park at the Paga border.
The 30, 165 square-metre facility, which cost the GPHA, GHC18 million, was constructed to ensure smooth operations for trucks and improve trade facilitation and revenue mobilisation.
The new truck park comes with offices and other amenities that will bring relief to truck drivers and the state agencies working at the border.
At the commissioning, the Upper East regional minister, in a statement read on his behalf by Gerard Ataogye, the Kassena-Nankana West district chief executive, noted that the opening of the facility was the beginning of a milestone as far as the development of the area was concerned.
He said the decade-old challenges truck drivers faced finding suitable space to park their vehicles which often led to accidents and harassment from border criminals, would be eliminated with the construction and opening of the facility.
Ataogye said prior to the commencement of the project, the district assembly spent hugely from its meagre resources to put the park in shape.
He, however, noted that the completed facility was going to lift that burden off the shoulders of the district assembly.
Ataogye said, “the deplorable nature of the car park before its construction had a multiplier effect of destroying the shoulders of the road in Paga township. Most cargo truck drivers for want of security and decent parking space often parked along the shoulders of the road thereby destroying the drains constructed along the road.
Also, intermittent maintenance of the park brought a lot of financial burden to the assembly as we spent lots of our meagre resources to put it in shape. Today, that burden of carrying core aggregates and gravel to fill potholes in the park on annual basis has been lifted off the shoulders of the assembly.”
Increase in trade and revenue mobilization.
The chief revenue officer and sector commander at the Paga border for the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Samuel Owusu, said the Customs Division was among the group of people joyous over the completion of the facility.
Owusu said hitherto, officers went through a lot of challenges in the discharge of duties, including enduring the dusty nature of the park, which posed health risks to officers, among others.
He was however glad the new edifice would eliminate those challenges so that the state agency could work to increase revenue mobilization at the border.
He revealed that the construction of the truck transit park has caused an upsurge in trade facilitation at the border which has seen the Customs Division recording a 35% growth rate in revenue mobilization.
The sector commander thanked the government for prioritizing and investing in the construction of the facility and urged more support for the Customs Division and the other state agencies working at the border.
Corridor for transit
The director-general of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), Michael Luguje, in his statement, said the focus of the authority to become the leading corridor for transit cargo was the reason it invested hugely in providing the infrastructure and the many others across the country.
He said it was the hope of the authority that the investments in improved infrastructure would place Ghana in a better position to compete favourably with her counterparts in the West African sub-region.
Luguje was grateful to the government, the minister for transport and the GPHA board for approving for management to invest in the construction of the facility as part of a wider vision of the government to ensure that Ghana becomes the favourite destination in West and Central Africa for trade.
He added that “gradually as we promote our ports and work in collaboration with all other stakeholders in the industry, we believe we would be able to achieve this vision as we position our ports as hubs for West and Central African trades.”
Luguje tasked the Customs Division and the Kassena-Nankana west district assembly to work together to ensure that trucks arriving and exiting Ghana comply strictly with the regulations.
He noted that the practice where trucks took shelter at filling stations or parked along the shoulders of the road and causing congestion, should be addressed by the district assembly and the customs division.
Senyalah Castro
Asaase Radio 99.5 – tune in or log on to broadcasts online
99.5 in Accra, 90.7 in Ho, 98.5 in Kumasi, 99.7 in Tamale, 89.5 in Tarkwa, 100.3 in Cape Coast and 106.9 in Walewale
Follow us on Twitter: @asaaseradio995
#AsaaseRadio
#TheVoiceofOurLand
