President to cut sod for Kumasi-Obuasi rail project
Accra, Sept. 28, GNA – President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will on Wednesday, September 30, cut the sod for work to begin on Phase One of the Kumasi-Obuasi new standard gauge railway line at 0900 hours at Kaase, Kumasi.
This was in a statement issued by the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Railway Development and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Monday.
The Kumasi-Obuasi rail project forms part of other standard gauge rail lines being constructed across the country by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Administration.
The first-ever train to Kumasi arrived in 1903. It was a narrow gauge and has remained unchanged for several decades.
However, the narrative was changing for the better under the Joe Ghartey-led Railways Development Ministry and President Akufo-Addo-led government.
Ghana is now seeing standard gauge railway lines being constructed, with the primary aim of building upon the country’s transport network, boosting economic activities, and reducing travel time for commuters and goods.
From 2017 to date, the Railways Ministry has succeeded largely in transforming the country’s railways sector.
The Government has been successful, to a large extent, in moving the country from its ‘colonial’ narrow gauge rail tracks to standard gauge, constructing several kilometres of railway lines and rehabilitating many others.
The Kumasi-Obuasi rail project forms part of the new standard gauge Western Line, which is being developed from Sekondi-Takoradi to Kumasi.
