The Minister of Transport, Fiifi Kwetey says an agreement has been reached and very soon the Tema motorway will be expanded into six lanes at a cost of US $ 1.5 Billion.

According to Hon. Kwetey, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority has entered into a concessionary agreement with a private consortium to expand the Port of Tema to more than three times its current capacity.

"The first phase of the project is the construction of four container terminals and the expansion of the Tema motorway into six lanes at a cost of US $ 1.5 Billion," he said.

The Transport Minister was speaking during the opening of the 15TH Intermodal Africa 2016 Exhibition and Conference at Accra that has attracted 268 participants from 19 countries.

Hon. Kwetey added that the project which is expected to be completed in 2018 would be one of the biggest port expansion projects in West Africa.

"Already, about three hundred and fifty (350) million Euros is being invested in Takoradi port to expand the facilities there to meet the new dynamics of the maritime trade especially the exploration and exploitation of the new oil and gas industry" he said.

He started his addres by saying, the conference has come at an opportune time, an era where the Frica Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063 aims at developing a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and focusing on sustainable development.

He continued that, Maritime transport is a vehicle for the growth of world trade, industrial and commercial interconnections in the world economy. Maritime transport alone moves about 80% of world cargo trade. However, without connections with the other modes of transport, world trade will be meaningless.

Currently Africa trails behind other regions in infrastructure, logistics, efficient transport modes and their linkages in inter and intra-regional trade. This deficiency suppresses growth of intermodal freight transport and its associated socio-economic benefits that countries are derive.

“We cannot tap the full benefits of Ports and Shipping without promoting intermodal transport. To this end, we need to secure modern and appropriate logistics build strategic partnerships and the capacity of the human resource base on the industry and adapt best practices such as port automation and develop appropriate and relevant policies for the industry”.