The Ministry of Transport has halted the proposed reconstruction of the Western Railway Line following the government's inability, about two years ago, to access the portion of the US$3 billion loan from the Chinese Development Bank (CDB) meant for the project.

The reconstruction of the railway line was to, among other things, upgrade the tracks from the current single narrow gauge of 10 millimeters (MM) by 35MM to a standard gauge of 14MM by 35MM to help ensure stability and strength.

That has, however, been halted as government continues to tango with the CDB over disbursement procedures.

The Chief Director of the MoT, Mr Twumasi Ankrah-Selby, told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS in October that although the ministry had finished with the various processes needed to commence the reconstruction works,  it had been forced to hold-on to it due to lack of funding.

“We are ready and immediately the funding comes, we will start,” he said.

About US$500 million of the loan was earmarked to be used as part funding for the project, construction of which was due to start this year.

The Chief Director explained that although the US$500 million would not have been enough to complete the reconstruction works, it was agreed that part of the CDB would be used to start it while government looked for another source of funding to complete it.

“But now that we haven't even gotten that US$500 million yet, then what do we do? That has forced us to hold-on but as and when the funds are made available, we will move to site,” Mr Ankrah-Selby added.

The reconstruction of the Western Rail, one of the two major railway lines in the country, was part of efforts to revamp the railway sector.

The sector has over the past years suffered from lack of attention and investment and that has led to massive deterioration of the tracks and trains themselves.

That has weakened the railway system in the country while impacting negatively on businesses, especially on the mining industry which hitherto relied heavily on rail to transport its products and equipment to and from the mines.

The Chief Director was, however, optimistic that the prosper Eastern Railway Line will be rehabilitated as planned.

He said the rehabilitation of the railway line has been added to the Boankra Inland Port and the ministry was now in the process of finding a transactional advisor for them.

"We want to make it a build, operate and transfer (BOT) and the search for partners has already started," the Chief Director of the MoT added.