The government of Ghana intends to make an investment of USD 12.9 billion in rail network expansion projects.
The plan whose financing will come largely from private investors is linked to a national rail transport strategy connected with 13 other projects that have been taken up within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
Approximately USD 5.8 billion of this investment will go towards a project to develop a light rail network (LRT) comprising seven corridors in Kumasi. The project is scheduled to commence in 2025.
It will be taken up on the basis of a public-private partnership (PPP) financed 70 percent by debt and 30 percent by equity.
The plan involves construction of a 672 km railway line (the Central Spine) which will run from the center of Kumasi to Paga. The project will entail an investment of USD 3.3 billion. It involves incorporating several axes of the railway interconnection between Ghana and Burkina Faso.
The start of work on the Central Spine project is scheduled for 2023 and is expected to be commissioned six years later.