STATE-OWNED Ghana Railways Corporation (GRC) has negotiated a $16m loan from South Africa’s Absa bank to help it cope with an expected increase in freight haulage capacity.
GRC’s deputy managing director, Emmanuel Poku, said It was now awaiting final approval from the ministry of roads and transport.
Haulage of bauxite and manganese, which make up the bulk of GRC’s freight business, was set to increase to one million tonnes and 600,000 tonnes a year respectively by 2002 from 400,000 and 450,000 tonnes, GRC Managing Director Samuel Barnes said.
He said the loan would also go towards improving the transport of petroleum products from the port of Tema near Accra to the second city of Kumasi, 270 km to the north.
GRC intends to buy 80 tank wagons and repair rail tracks on this line. – Reuters