John Peter Amewu, the Minister of Railway Development, has stated that the government will not be able to build a sky train in the country.
It is impossible for him to do so, according to him;…. On the fringes of the African Investment Forum in South Africa in November 2019, the government, through then-Minister for the Sector, Joe Ghartey, inked a deal for the building of the Accra SkyTrain Project.
The proposed initiative in Accra calls for the construction of five routes, four of which are radial routes that originate at the proposed Sky Train Terminal, which is located at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in the heart of Accra, and one route that provides an intra-city commuter loop distribution service.
The idea called for a total track length of 194 kilometers across all lines.
Following that, the Ghana Railway Development Authority’s management announced that feasibility studies for the projected Accra sky-train project had been completed.
Richard Diedong Dombo, the Authority’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), stated that after reviewing the report, the government will begin implementing the project.
“Instead of being subterranean, the sky trains travel on an elevator platform. They’ll be sprinting over Accra’s cityscape on platforms. It will be a local train rather than an intercity train. The visibility studies have been finished, and the contract is currently being evaluated before it is signed,” he stated in a Citi News interview.
However, current sector minister John Peter Amewu stated on Citi TV’s Face to Face show on Tuesday, November 23, 2021, that the government will not proceed with the sky railway project.
The government, he claims, will not be able to support the project since it is capital intensive.
“The sky train we’re talking about is one that will operate on columns in the sky, similar to those seen in Dubai, but no agreement has been inked.”
“It’s not possible right now.” I don’t think a sky train will be built in the next 3-4 years. There will be no Sky train service in the country. “It’s impossible.”
He also stated that the government’s ability to fund the building of some of the projects that have already begun is becoming a challenge.
“Rail construction takes a long time and requires a lot of money. In terms of building an asphaltic road, a kilometer of railway line costs about four to five times as much as a kilometer of concrete infrastructure.”
“So, given the budgetary space that we have in the country, the government’s ability to absorb it is becoming a challenge, and you know our current debt to GDP ratio is above 70%.”
