The first phase of the Quay Two Expansion Project aimed at making the Tema Harbour a strategic entry point within the sub-region has been completed.

The second phase of the project, which involves a financial package of 18.9 Euros, has also been commenced.

The Director-General of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, Mr Ben Owusu-Mensah, stated this in an interview and said an agreement involving the financial arragement for the project had already been signed between the government and HSBC, which was providing the funds for the project, during a visit to Europe by the Minister of Ports, Harbours and Railways, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi and other officials from the ministry.

Mr Owusu-Mensah said that a gantry that had also been secured at the cost of $15 million would be mounted on the container terminal on completion.He said there was certainty that the terminal would become operational by 2005.

He stated that as part of the Gateway Scheme, the expansion hinged on the commitment by the government to improve the capacity of the Tema Port in its ability to handle ships and cargo at a faster rate.Mr Owusu-Mensah noted that when the project was completed, bigger ships would do business within the sub-region through Ghana.

This, he explained, was because apart from the Ivory Coast, no other country in the sub-region had the level of capacity Tema was building through the Quay II Extension Project.

He said with the crisis in the Cote d’Ivoire not yet over, the Tema Port had been targeted to handle heavy cargo from some of the world’s major ports.He said as part of the project, there would be a container devanning area to handle LCC containers.

These are specialised containers not commonly handled by ports in the sub-region .The country, Mr Owusu-Mensah noted, was taking the lead into that area of port industry.