The establishment of the new Ministry of Ports, Harbours and Railways (MPHR) was to give a clear political direction to and instigate rapid development of the ports and the railways system that had not had any attention in the past 100 years.

President John Agyekum Kufuor, who announced this at Tema on Friday, said in addition, the government recognized the crucial role the ports had to play in the economic development and modernization of the country.

He was cutting the sod for work to begin on the extension of quay two at the Tema Harbour to re-develop it into a container terminal with the installation of container cranes with limited allowable wharf space for break-bulk cargo operation.

The project, estimated at about 60 million dollars and being financed by the Dutch government under its ORET Grant Facility and other private financial institutions.

It includes extension of the quay by about 200 metres to provide a total berth length of 570 metres with 11.5 metres draft at the south-end and 240 metres berth length with 11.5 metres draft at the north-end.
President Kufuor said the Sector Minister had been given clear directions to make the new Ministry one of non-stop action and results were expected.
He said, " if Ghana is to become a true gateway to the Sub-Region, and particularly to the landlocked neighbours, then the railway system has to be built even as the inland port comes on stream".
President Kufuor said the once vibrant railway system had virtually collapsed, the seaports had been run-down and both equipment and the management style became outdated and outmoded.
"Over the past two decades, the country has been making attempts to reverse the declining state of affairs at the seaports. Rapid development in maritime industry requires the provision of deeper waters at berth, fast loading and unloading cargo handling equipment, computerization and containerization of ports", he added.
President Kufuor said it was in the light of government's determination to catch up with the rest of the world in the ports, harbours and railways sector that with the assistance and support of the Japanese government through the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) a Master Development Plan for the ports of Tema and Takoradi had been drawn up.
He said it was envisaged that by the end of the planned programme, the ports would be as modern and efficient as any other port anywhere in the world, and also be able to handle the expected growth rate in traffic that is projected to rise five-fold by the year 2010.
President Kufuor said it was government's policy to help the private sector play a major role in the development and operation of the ports to meet the increased traffic demand.
He said the project that marked the first phase of the planned transformation of the Tema port into a major modern container port, the second phase would involve the creation of additional storage facilities and expanded containerization and government would look forward for private sector participation to realize the dream.
President Kufuor said while the project was on-going at Tema, there would be a simultaneous re-development of the Takoradi port as well for both ports to have as a modal point, the Boankra Inland port to serve not only the northern half of the country, but the landlocked neighbours of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali.
He said, in the long run, there would be more business opportunities and more jobs created when the ports were modernized, better managed and run more efficiently.
Dr. Richard Winfred Anane, Minister of Roads and Transport said the cargo allocation system at the ports was expected to be abolished by July this year and full competitiveness and private sector participation introduced to promote competition and efficiency in cargo handling.
He said to safeguard the investment interests of the private operators, the legal framework for operating within the ports would be reviewed and a draft bill had been prepared to be laid before Cabinet for consideration.
Dr Anane said the main thrust of the bill was to give legal protection to the investments of the private investors and make the Port Authority the regulator of the port services and also be responsible for the planning and development of the seaports.
He said eight private stevedoring companies had been licensed to operate cargo handling services under the cargo allocation system and that they controlled 75 per cent of the stevedoring activities whilst the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) managed the remaining 25 per cent.
He said, in government's quest to make Ghana the shipping hub of the West African Sub-Region, the Ports Authority had spent about 11 million dollars to carry out remedial dredging works in the Takoradi Port, Tema Fishing Harbour and the Tema Main Harbour.
The Minister of Roads and Transport said these were to enhance navigation into these ports and another 11 Billion cedis was being spent on the Takoradi Port to strengthen the profile of the Lee Breakwater.
He said the Ministry was also pursuing a programme that sought to involve the private sector in the re-development of the national rail-lines to complement the services provided by the ports in line with multi-modal transport system.
Dr Anane said to decongest the port, a Devanning Terminal was to be privately developed to handle all groupage cargoes and vehicles outside the port.
Mr. Ben Owusu-Mensah, Director-General of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) said two major problems facing the Tema port were large container and bulk vessels queue-up for berths, making these vessels stay in port for too long durations.
The second problem is containers are stripped on every available space on the terminal, creating space and container identification problems in the port.