The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) has halted the construction of some supposed illegal mini ports and jetties by some private companies along the country’s coast.<\/p>\n
GPHA disclosed that a private developer, LIB Limited, is putting up a facility at Tema, which is expected to receive Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) imports for onward distribution and sale to oil marketing companies.<\/p>\n
Also, a fishing company, Omanye Oceans Fisheries Limited, is alleged to be constructing a boat yard along the shores of the Volta River at Anyanui in the Volta Region, while cement manufacturer, Diamond Cement Limited, is also reported to be developing a jetty at Keta in the same region, to receive clinker imports for the production of cement at its factory in Aflao.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”oVZiBfqC8ioFdqKxErIYIdjEreuHK7D1″]Throwing more light on the development, the acting Director-General of the GPHA, Paul Ansah Asare, said on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong> on Tuesday that, his outfit will take action against the organisations in question because it breaches the PNDC Law 160 of 1986, which makes the GPHA the sole state entity authorized to plan, build, develop, manage, operate and control port facilities.<\/p>\n He added that such activities pose security threats to the country.<\/p>\n On Omanye’s supposed port, Mr. Asare said when they visited the site last Friday, \u201cthere were a lot of vessels and a lot of Chinese nationals over there; a clear indication that some port facility has been developed there without recourse to the due process of law.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot only that place, but there is another place close to Tema where the people had developed about 600 meters of a jetty into the sea. And there were indications that somewhere around Keta as well, Diamond Cement is also preparing to develop a similar facility, all of them without due process of the law. It is a recipe for disaster,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Mr. Asare noted that, the framers of the PNDC Law 160 of 1986 \u201ctook cognizance of the seriousness of operating ports\u2026the law gives such prerogative to the president through an executive instrument, not even through the approval of somebody at the presidency. But an executive instrument must be issued by the president to declare an enclave as a port. So it\u2019s not a very simple thing to say that you have received a permit from the environmental protection or the metropolitan assembly or Ghana maritime authority, so you are in for a port just as you cannot go for a land somewhere and say you are developing an international airport so you cannot do that for a port.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a huge operation they are about to undertake and with regards to the Diamond cement facility, they are building a vessel that can bring about 40,000 tons of clinker. It\u2019s a huge operation synonymous to what is happening in our ports,\u201d the acting GPHA boss noted.<\/p>\n When asked why they had not clamped down on such operations in the past, the acting Director General said the said companies had contacted them with regards to such projects \u201cbut that did not conclude into granting of licenses on what they are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGranted that the monitoring was weak at that time, I believe that now the willpower is there to restore law and order. That is why our intelligence picked the signal and immediately we followed up to stop what was going on because it\u2019s not in the interest of the country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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