On May 27, President Nana Akufo-Addo officially opened the €85 million Elmina Fishing Port rehabilitation and extension project in the ancient city of Elmina in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Municipality of the Central Region.
The largest fishing harbour in the region was built in under 30 months, and it features docking space and deep marine access to assure its long-term sustainability.
The project began in August 2020 with the intention of improving the fishing business in Elmina and the Central Region, as well as tourism and the salt industry.
The facility’s marine and civil infrastructure includes a 450-metre breakwater on the south side with a cubipod-shaped round head and a 160-metre breakwater on the north side that is connected to the already-in-place sea defence.
It features a 65,000-square-metre basin with excavated depths of three to five metres, as well as 400 metres of quay walls, including an 80-metre-long dock for tourists near Elmina Castle.
The spectacular project includes an administrative building with offices and a viewing deck, a brand-new fish market, a net mending area, an auction hall, ablution facilities, restrooms, and a daycare building for infants and toddlers.
The International Marine and Dredging Consultants (IMDC) served as the project’s consulting engineers, while Bellsea Limited was in charge of most of the marine and civil operations.
President Akufo-Addo commissioned the facility in a colourful event, where he praised the chiefs and people of Elmina and several contractors for working together diligently to satisfy various operational needs.
To complement the efforts of the ports of Takoradi and Tema, he said the facility constituted a major milestone in empowering the people through the creation of jobs.
However, President Akufo-Addo criticised former President John Mahama for labelling the initiative a political ploy to play away from the people of Elmina and the Central Region. Instead, he stated that the facility’s quick completion proved the government’s intention to support the fishing industry as a whole and the people who work in it.
The President had confidence that the sector’s diverse investment would increase fisherman’s income and decrease post-harvest losses, therefore reducing the country’s reliance on imported fish in the medium to long term.
According to President Akufo-Addo, the fishing industry accounts for about 11% of Ghana’s GDP and 30% of the country’s workforce (both directly and indirectly), and he assured the public that other landing beaches strategically located along the coast of Ghana were in various stages of completion.
Mumford, Winneba, Senya Bereku, and Gomoa Feteh in the Central Region, Teshie and James Town in the Greater Accra Region, and Keta in the Volta Region all served as landing beaches.
