Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has commissioned a 56.7 million dollar Liquid Bulk Terminal at the Takoradi Port to support up to 60,000 tonnes of liquid cargo.

The facility, constructed by Amandi Ghana Limited, comes with modern loading structures and a 14m-water depth berth, the deepest in-harbour berth in Ghana, to receive loading vessels for all petroleum products.

It also comes with loading arms for petroleum products such as petrol, diesel, LPG gas, and bitumen, full berthing structure including fenders on dolphins, bollards and hooking points.

It is expected to provide about 50 per cent of the country’s domestic oil consumption and enhance the transhipment of petroleum products to other countries.

The bulk oil jetty which was developed by IBISTEK, a wholly Ghanaian company , with financial support from the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund and Consolidated Bank Ghana is expected to increase vessel traffic to the harbour and improve turn around time.

Developed by IBISTEK, a wholly Ghanaian company, with financial support from the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund and Consolidated Bank Ghana, the bulk oil jetty is expected to increase vessel traffic to the harbour and improve turn-around time.

Dr Bawumia said the Terminal positioned the Takoradi Port as a strategic and competitive one in the maritime industry, in fulfilment of government’s vision of making the Western Region a petroleum hub.

He said the project would also support the Integrated Aluminium and Bauxite Corporation.

Mr Peter Mac Manu, the Board Chairman for the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), said the facility was a testament to fast-track the development of the Port in line with national development goals.

Dr Bawumiah also cut the sod for the Phase II of the Dry Bulk Terminal construction, christened the "Atlantic Terminal Limited".

Mr Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, the Minister of Transport, said with an operational capacity of just 6.5 million metric tonnes per annum for bulk cargo, the Terminal would bring the total capacity of the Port to about 18.5 million metric tonnes each year.

Work on the project was expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2022, he said.

The Western Regional Minister, Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, said government’s investment in the Region in terms of infrastructure including road construction, coastal protection and development, railway development and education could not be over emphasised.

He said the people had resolved to position the Region as a preferred investment and tourism destination where they would own and retain the productive assets in collaboration with the private sector.

Mr Darko-Mensah emphasized that the expanded bulk facilities and the development of other related infrastructure like the railway would not only help the Takoradi Port to meet increasing international trade demands but provide better and sustained jobs for the teeming youth.

It would be recalled that on December 5, 2013, former President John Dramani Mahama cut the sod for expansion works of the Takoradi Port.

The work was done in phases to modernise the country, which saw the reclamation of 53 hectares of land, the dredging and extending of breakwaters, and construction of a new oil and gas jetty and bulk container to create space to handle larger vessels.

The Takoradi Port has, since 1928, not seen any form of expansion works.