JM STILL CHANGING LIVES …As Dambai Gets New Ferry

Former President John Dramani Mahama continues to change lives and transform Ghana, more than one month after existing office.

The latest community to benefit from the former president’s transformation agenda is Dambai, the capital of Krachi East district in the northern part of the Volta Region.
Former President Mahama provided the people of Dambai – which is a town along the Volta Lake – with a two ferries before leaving office on January 7, 2017.

The Ferries were deployed long before Akufo-Addo and the NPP assumed office.
The process to acquire the ferries for the people of Dambai was promoted by President Mahama and procured by the Ministry of Transport.

President Mahama promised during the commissioning of the refurbished Adomi Bridge on December 18, 2015, that he would deploy the two ferries which were being used to cross at Akrade to Yeji and Dambai.
The president directed the Ministry of Transport to reassemble the ferries which were used during the closure of the bridge but were later dismantled and deploy them for use in Dambai and Makango/Yeji respectively.

The process had to go through procurement process to get a contractor to dismantle ferries at Akrade and take them to Akosombo for reassemble.
The reassembling was executed by Seaweld and the mobilization paid by the Ministry of Roads and Highways.

It took some time because of the approval process. That of Yeji was deployed before the elections.

The contractor completed the work of the Dambai one but had to go through a mandatory Ghana Maritime Authority trial to ensure its safety.
The Mahama administration had earlier acquired a ferry for Kpando Torkor, 350-seater water buses, with one assigned to Kpando.

Again, to ensure that the various communities benefited from the lake, President Mahama secured almost $400 million from Indian Eximbank for the Tema to Akosombo rail line.
This is to facilitate transportation of goods meant for the Northern sector by rail to Akosombo, then onwards to the badge to Buipe.

This is a cheaper means to transport goods with transporters making savings of about 50% in the transport of goods.

Countries like Burkina Faso and Mali will take the advantage of transporting their cotton to Tema harbour via the Volta Lake for export.