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Transport
OVERVIEW
INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES
THE MARKET
Transport improvement has been defined by the
Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) as an
integral component for increasing national produc-
tivity and hence poverty reduction. The fundamental
policy objective of the transport sector therefore is
to establish an efficient, modally complementary and
integrated transport system.
The Transport sector is made up mainly of road
transport, maritime and water transport, civil aviation
and rail. Road transport is the major carrier in Gha-
na’s land transport system, currently taking up about
98% of freight and 95% of passenger traffic. The
Road infrastructure sector is managed by the Ghana
Highway Authority (GHA), Department of Feeder
Roads (DFR) and the Department of Urban Roads
(DUR), under the Ministry of transport, and can be
categorized into 4 main segments: urban, express,
rural-urban and rural services. Most urban trans-
portation in Ghana is by road and provided by pri-
vate transport including taxis, mini-buses and state/
private-supported bus services. Buses are the main
mode of road transport accounting for about 60% of
passenger movement, taxis only account for 14.5%,
while the remaining accounts for private cars.
Most major international carriers fly regularly to Ko-
toka International Airport (KIA) in Accra, which is the
main entry point to Ghana by air. This is the result
of Ghana’s open skies policy, which frees the air
space regulator from the constraints on capacity, fre-
quency, route, structure and other air operational re-
strictions. In effect, the policy allows the Ghana Civil
Aviation Authority (GCAA) to operate with minimal
restrictions from aviation authorities, except in cases
of safety and standards and/or dominant position to
distort market conditions.
There are 23 identified public transport operators
which belong to one recognised umbrella union,
the Ghana Road Transport Co-ordinating Council
(GRTCC). Most of these operators provide intercity,
intra-city and long distance services. The size of ve-
hicles that are used to operate ranges from 14 to 54
seat buses.
With reference to total annual maritime export,
freight volume in 2009 was 3,152,132 tonnes, a de-
crease of about 556,020 tonnes compared to that
of 2008. The total annual maritime import freight
volume also decreased in 2009 to 8,899,674 tonnes
from 10,821,480 in 2008. Container seaport traffic
as well as imported Twenty Equivalent Unit (TEUs)
increased steadily since 2001. Between 2007 and
2009 there was steady decrease of total container
seaport traffic (imports & exports) from 547,653
TEUs to 481,274 TEUs.
The number of vessel calls in 2009 was 1,631. Over-
all vessel calls to the country continued to increase
each year with an exception in 2003 and 2007 but
increased again in 2008 to 2009 from 1,568 to 1,631.
Between 2000 and 2006, Tema Port received be-
tween 70-77% of all vessel calls.
From 2004 international air passenger traffic in-
creased from 705,370 to 1,204,786 in 2009. The air
passenger traffic increased every year throughout
the period 2007 to 2009. In 2009, movements to and
from Europe constituted about 38% of the total pas-
senger throughput that was handled at the Kotoka
International Airport (KIA); and the West African sub
region contributed about 22%.
Major investment opportunities are in the areas of
construction and maintenance, services and sales.
Identified as one of government’s priority areas to
be developed under its medium term plan, transport
services offer exciting opportunities especially in
mass transportation – scheduled bus system, rail
upgrades and passenger rail transport on chosen
corridors, lake transport system (exports and im-
ports to and from land locked neighbours of Burkina
Faso, Mali and Niger), air transport operators for
domestic and sub-regional services, as well as,
upgrading of existing trunk roads under BOT, BOO,
BAT, BLT etc. systems.
In its quest to attract investors, the sector gives out
95% of its work to contractors. The cost of roads
construction and maintenance are borne by the gov-
ernment while private contractors assume the task
of implementation.
Major opportunities in the sector are in the form of
contracts between the Ministry of Roads and Trans-
port and local and international engineering firms via
competitive bidding. The exception is where emer-
gency works are concerned, in which case selec-
tive tendering is employed. Eligibility for bidding on
public road construction and rehabilitation projects
requires the registration of prospective contractors
with the Ministry.