John Peter Amewu Railways Development Minister has revealed that it will not be possible to build any sky trains in Ghana anytime soon opposing to the earlier promises by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Somewhere in November 2018, the first Akufo-Addo administration went into an agreement with a South African group, Africa Investment (Ai) SkyTrain Consortium, for the construction of the Accra Sky Train Project.
The agreement then was signed by the then Railways Development Minister Mr Joe Ghartey for Ghana on the sidelines of the Africa Investment Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Then, he was very emphatic that the Sky Train Project was a solution to the increasing road traffic congestion in Accra, with its detrimental effects on economic activity, pollution and the quality of life.
President Akufo-Addo said, with a population of some 250,000 at independence, now had six million people, and the Accra SkyTrain Project, he added, “is a very, very efficient solution to it. I am happy that is the result of the cooperation between our two countries.”
However, speaking to Accra-based Citi TV on Tuesday, 23 November 2021, monitored by Apexnewsgh.com Mr. Amewu said “The sky train that we are talking about is the one that is going to run on columns in the sky like the ones you see in Dubai but no agreement has been signed.”
“The sky train that we are talking about is the one that is going to run on columns in the sky like the ones you see in Dubai but no agreement has been signed.”
“It is not possible to be done now. I don’t see any sky train being done in the next 3 to 4 years”, adding: “There is not going to be any Sky train in the country. It is not possible.”
“Rail construction takes a lot of time and it is also capital intensive. A kilometer of a railway line is about four to five times the cost of building a concrete infrastructure in terms of building an asphaltic road.”
“So, considering the fiscal space that we have in the country, facilities to absorb it is becoming problematic for the government and you know our current debt to GDP which is in excess of 70%.” Mr. Amewu said.
Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen
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