Tema, June 25, GNA - The Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority (GPHA) would start the construction of an oil service terminal at the Takoradi Port from September as part of preparations towards the commercial production of oil next year.

About 50 million dollars would be needed for the first phase of the project that would be completed in one-and-a-half years, Mr Nestor Galley, the Director General of GPHA, said on Wednesday.

He told journalists in Tema that hoses and pipelines would also be laid from the oil fields to the port to provide easy access for supply vessels and that the construction of the terminal would also give more space for the vessels to operate.

Mr Galley said a bigger terminal was needed to accommodate between 10 and 15 supply vessels that would service the oil fields as six vessels are currently servicing one of the oil fields.

He said the construction of the terminal and other facilities would enable the country benefit from the oil as without it the supply vessels would operate from Cote d'Ivoire port which would be to the disadvantage of Ghana.

On the policy to turn the Tema and Takoradi ports into landlord ports, Mr Galley said a paper would be presented to the government on the need for modification of the policy to avoid leaving all the operational activities at the ports to the private sector. The Director General expressed disappointment at the use of the Lome port by importers in Ghana and that about one million metric tonnes of Ghana's cargo passed through the Lome port last year instead of the country's two ports.

He said officials from the GPHA would go to Lome next week to investigate the situation and to interact with the consignees to find out the type of cargoes that pass through that port and the reasons why they preferred it to Ghana ports.

"The country will loose lots of revenue if importers continue to use the Lome port." He said to check overloading of trucks from the Tema port the axle weight would be checked before the trucks move out of the port from Monday since its four weigh bridges have been repaired. 25 June 09