PROSPECTS AND ISSUES OF RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT IN GHANA
Main Article Content
Keywords
Ghana, Railway, Infrastructure, Development
Abstract
Railways combine speed, carriage space and weight at less expense over long distances than any other mode of land transport. In Ghana, however, the railway subsector holds less than two percent of freight movement alongside with a less than one percent of passenger carriage in the transport economy. Provided that, rehabilitation and maintenance of existing stock, construction of new lines, efficiency and reliability services are enhanced, the railway system will play a vital role in the movement of more goods and people, thus spurring trade and increased commodity production. It will open up the investments frontiers for raw material extraction, commercial agriculture, competitive industrialisation and high quality services’
delivery for the country’s development. The Government of Ghana has plans to upgrade the existing system and construct new lines to expand it and link it with the railway infrastructure in the Economic Community of West African States and eventually the rest of Africa. This paper examines the current state of the railway system in Ghana, highlighting its socioeconomic contribution and prospects to national development albeit inherent problems. The prospects and issues associated with its development as a significant and an inevitable infrastructural component in the country’s socio-economic development. Data for the paper are drawn through goggle documentary investigation and subjected to contingent content analysis and evaluation. A private-public partnership approach to the development and management of the railway system is proposed within the context of the liberalization policy in Ghana’s national development framework.
Article Metrics Graph
References
African Highways and the Missing Links. African Development Bank: Tunis, and UN
Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa.
African Union (2006), Rail Development in Africa: Stakes and Prospects, Objectives and
Missions of The African Rail Union (ARU). Document prepared by the ARU General
Secretariat for the Conference of African Ministers In Charge of Rail Transport 10-14
April 2006, Brazzaville (Congo).
African Union (2006), Rail Development in Africa: Stakes and Prospects, Objectives and
Missions of The African Rail Union (ARU). Document prepared by the ARU General
Secretariat for the Conference of African Ministers in Charge of Rail Transport 10-14
April 2006, Brazzaville (Congo).
Akee, R. (2006), The Babeldaob Road: The Impact of Road Construction on Rural Labor
Force Outcomes in the Republic of Palau," IZA Discussion Papers 2452, Institute for
the Study of Labor (IZA).
Atack, J., and R. A. Margo (2009), Agricultural Improvements and Access to Rail
Transportation: The American Midwest as a Test Case, 1850-1860," NBER Working
Papers 15520, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
Atack, J., F. Bateman, M. Haines, and R. A. Margo (2010), Did Railroads Induce or Follow
Economic Growth? Urbanization and Population Growth in the American Midwest,
1850-60," Social Science History, 34(2), 171-197.
Austin, G. (2007), Labour And Land In Ghana, 1874-1939: A Shifting Ratio and an
Institutional Revolution," Australian Economic History Review, 47(1), 95-120.
Austin, G. (2007), Labour And Land In Ghana, 1874-1939: A Shifting Ratio and an
Institutional Revolution," Australian Economic History Review, 47(1), 95-120.
Bloomberg (2010), Ghana, China National Sign $6 Billion Railroad Deal, GBC Says,
Bloomberg.com 28 November 2010.
Buys, P., U. Deichmann, and D. Wheeler (2010), Road Network Upgrading and Overland
Trade Expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of African Economies, 19(3), 399-
432.
Calderon, C., and L. Serven (2008), Infrastructure and Economic Development in Sub-
Saharan Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4712, The World Bank.
Chaves, I., S. L. Engerman, and J. A. Robinson (2010), Reinventing the Wheel: The
Economic Benefits of Wheeled Transportation in Early Colonial British West Africa,"
Unpublished manuscript, Department of Political Science, Stanford University.
Clark, X., D. Dollar, and A. Micco (2004), Port E_ciency, Maritime Transport Costs, and
Bilateral Trade," Journal of Development Economics, 75(2), 417-450.
Dercon, S., D. O. Gilligan, J. Hoddinott, and T. Woldehan (2008), The impact of agricultural
extension and roads on poverty and consumption growth in fifteen Ethiopian
villages," Discussion paper.
Dickson, K. (1968), A Historical Geography of Ghana. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Donaldson, D. (2010), Railroads of the Raj: Estimating the Impact of Transportation
Infrastructure," NBER Working Papers 16487, National Bureau of Economic
Research, Inc.
Feyrer, J. (2009), Trade and Income - Exploiting Time Series in Geography," NBER Working,
Papers 14910, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
Gould, P. R. (1960), The Development of the Transportation Pattern in Ghana. Chicago:
Northwestern University Press.
Heramgeber-Statistisches Bundesamt (1985), Statistik des Auslands, Ghana, Verlag:
Kohlwamme Gmbh, Stuggart und Mainz.
Hill, P. (1963): The Migrant Cocoa-Farmers of Southern Ghana: A Study in Rural Capitalism.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jacoby, H. G., and B. Minten (2009), On measuring the benefits of lower transport costs,"
Journal of Development Economics, 89(1), 28-38.
Jedwab, R and Moradi A (2011), Transportation Infrastructure and Development in Ghana,
Department of Economics, Paris School of Economics.
Killick, Tony (1984), Development Economics in Action. A Study of economic policies in
Ghana, London, Heinemann.
Krueger, W. Larry and Neuman, W. Lawrence (…), Social Work Research Methods,
Qualitative and Quantitative Applications, Boston, New York, Person Alla And Bacon.
Lewis, M J T (1974), Early Wooden Railways, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
Luntinen, P. (1996), Railway on the Gold Coast: A meeting of two cultures: a colonial history.
Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.
Michaels, G. (2008), The Effect of Trade on the Demand for Skill: Evidence from the
Interstate Highway System," The Review of Economics and Statistics.
Michaels, G., F. Rauch, and S. J. Redding (2008), Urbanization and Structural
Transformation," CEPR Discussion Papers 7016.0(4), 683/701.
Teal, F. J. (2002), Export Growth and Trade Policy in Ghana in the Twentieth Century," The
World Economy, 25(9), 1319-1337.
Tosh, J. (1980), The Cash Crop Revolution in Tropical Africa: An Agricultural Reappraisal,"
African Affairs, 79(314), 79 -94.
United Nations (2009), World Urbanization Prospects: The 2009 Revision. New York: United
Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (2009), The Transport Situation in Africa.
Sixth session of the Committee on Trade, Regional Cooperation and Integration,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, October 2009.
Article Sidebar
Article Details
The Journal of Construction Project Management and Innovation (JCPMI) is committed to the principles of Open Access publishing and upholds the ethos of freely disseminating research findings to enhance knowledge and understanding within the field of construction project management and innovation.
In accordance with our commitment to open scholarly communication, all articles published by JCPMI are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC). This licensing agreement allows others to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the original author and source are credited. The license also ensures that authors retain copyright over their work while allowing the wider community to access, use, and build upon the content.
The terms of the CC BY-NC license are designed to facilitate the following:
- Attribution: Users must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. This can be done in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses the user or their use.
- Non-Commercial: Users may not use the material for commercial purposes.
- No Additional Restrictions: Users may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
By publishing with JCPMI, authors agree to these terms and ensure that their work is accessible and reusable under the conditions of the CC BY-NC license, thereby contributing to the ongoing exchange of knowledge and information in an Open Access environment.
Creative Commons CC Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Public License