Identified as one of Ghana's priority areas to be developed under its medium term plan, upgrading of existing infrastructure and provision of transport services offer exciting opportunities, particularly in mass transportation.
Investment opportunities include rail upgrades and provision of passenger rail transport on chosen corridors, upgrade of the lake transport system (to handle trade to and from land locked neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger), as well as upgrading existing trunk roads under BOT, BOO, BAT and BLT systems.
Privatisation of many government owned transport and logistics enterprises has led to greater
efficiency, though the government continues to foot the bill for road construction and maintenance, while private contractors assume the implementation task.
Ghana is increasingly working to attract more infrastructure and transport investment to meet the existing shortfall, often through public private partnerships which have proven to be a successful cooperative means for providing public infrastructure and services in developing economies.
Major opportunities in the sector are in the form of contracts between the Ministry of Road and Transport (MRT) and local and international engineering firms via competitive bidding.
Eligibility for bidding on public road construction and rehabilitation projects requires the registration of prospective contractors with the Ministry.
Donor groups such
as the World Bank, African Development Bank, JICA, USAID, DANIDA, DFID and GTZ often underwrite road projects tendered by the MRT.
Reasons to invest in infrastructure/transport sectors
Regional trading hub: Demand for freight services transcends Ghana’s borders, with land-locked neighbours depending on the country’s transport services.
Growing tourism trade: Estimates show the number of business and tourist visitors to Ghana is increasing each year, and that tourists spend around 16% of their budgets on transportation expenses. There is therefore a growing need for vehicle leasing enterprises to serve these groups.
Other advantages include new tolling practices which have paved the way for Build, operate and Transfer (BOT) systems, availability of affordable construction materials, excellent electricity, communications and water systems; and affordable labour.
For more
information on investing in transport sector contact the Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC).
Key contact: Stephen Debre
Senior Investment Officer
Email: sdebre@gipcghana.com, info@gipcghana.com
Web: http://www.gipcghana.com
