A leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Otchere Darko has said that an effective rail system in Ghana will lead to a reduction in the impact of high oil prices in the country.
He indicated that the lack of trains and other forms of fossil fuel driven means is having a direct negative impact on ex-pump prices, food and other goods.
“In Ghana, because we don’t have trains & other forms of non-fossil fuel driven means, the link between high crude oil prices in a deregulated space, with ex-pump price & food & other goods are too direct. Railways is one big way of reducing the dominoe impact from high oil prices,” the former Executive Director of the Danquah Institute tweeted.
The Akufo-Addo administration has been undertaking rail projects as part of efforts to resuscitate the sector.
Last year, the Minister of Railways Development, John Peter Amewu announced that work was progressing on the Tema – Mpakadan railway.
Mr Amewu told Parliament while answering a question posed by Nsawam Adoagyiri lawmaker, Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh that the rail construction work was progressing.
The Tema-Mpakadan rail line is part of the 1,000km Ghana-Burkina Faso Railway Interconnectivity Project which will link Ghana from Tema to Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou.
The two countries had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in January 2017 in Ouagadougou to kick-start the project.
According to the plan, some 800km of the railway line will be in Ghana’s territory while the remaining 200km will be on Burkinabe soil.
