Captain James Owusu-Koranteng, Director of the Takoradi Port, has said the dredging of the port would be completed in two months to pave the way for other works to begin.

Doing the crown wall and filling, he said, were part of the works that would follow in the process of expanding the port, which was aimed at opening the doors of the port to bigger cargoes, thus fostering national economic growth.

Capt. Owusu-Koranteng told journalists at a media briefing in Takoradi that the dredger, Nicolo Machiavelli, arrived in Ghana on January 2 and started work on January 7.

He said while 80,000 cubic meters of work had been carried out, the total cost of the expansion project was estimated at 197 million Euros.

The project includes the construction of oil services terminal, reclamation of a land area of 53,000 hectares, dredging of an access channel, and construction of a bulk terminal.

The Director said the surrounding communities had been engaged on safety and security issues concerning the project.

He said the expansion of the port was necessary as the new generation of ships were much bigger with some as wide as 14 metres to 16 metres and could lift up to 80,000 tonnes of goods.

Messrs Jan-de-Dul, a construction firm from Belgium, are the contractors on the dredging works.