The high cost of transporting goods along the Tema-Ougadouga corridor by traders will soon be over, the Minister of Railways Development has said.

According to Joe Ghartey, authorities in Ghana and Burkina Faso are on course with the railway connectivity project which is expected to commence by next year.

The over one hundred kilometre project will link Ghana to Burkina Faso through railway from the Eastern Corridor of Ghana.

Mr Ghartey gave the assurance when he paid a courtesy call on the chief and elders of Nalerigu in the Upper East region as part of a stakeholder’s engagement.

He said, “We are ensuring that this line will benefit the very people along with the communities and cities. Both the government of Ghana and Burkina Faso are committed to improving the transportation system for traders along the Corridor.

Goods from the Tema port cannot go to Burkina Faso in a cheaper form of transport if the railway line is not working. I can also assure you that there will be jobs for the people. The construction work will be done by the indigenous people and this will create more employment for you,” he added.

The Minister and his team of engineers also visited Burkina Faso to interact with their Burkinabe counterparts and traders on the progress of the project

The Ghana- Burkina Railway Interconnectivity Project is gaining momentum. In line with its implementation, the Joint Committee of Experts (JCE) for the Ghana-Burkina Railway Interconnectivity Project has reviewed and validated the Pre-feasibility Study Report submitted by the Transaction Advisors, Messrs TEAM Engineering S.p.A./Vision Consult Ltd. 

The Transaction Advisors conducted a multi-criteria evaluation of three alternative alignments (Variants) of the proposed railway corridor from the technical, economic and environmental perspectives. In Ghana, the Ghana-Burkina Railway project lies on the Eastern Corridor.

The proposed standard gauge railway line starts from Mpakadan where ongoing construction of railway line from the Tema Port terminates at the Volta Lake.