The construction of the Jamestown Fishing Harbour has been completed on schedule, with operationalization expected to begin before the end of this year. The new fishing harbour was constructed under a 50-million-dollar Chinese government aid over a period of four years.
The fishing harbour sits on a 60,000 square-meter land and has been optimized with modern facilities such as an ice-making plant that can produce 60 tons per day on average, a cold store that can store 200 tons of fish, two workshops, a fish market that can accommodate 200 sellers per day, ancillary stalls, an administration block, and a crèche for children.
Ahead of the official handover and commissioning later this year, top management of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), led by the Director General, Michael Achagwe Luguje, visited the project site to inspect the facility.
The GPHA boss, who was satisfied with the work done, stated that his organization will bring its experience in managing fishing ports to bear on this facility and urged the entire fishing community to work together with GPHA to take excellent care of the fishing harbour for the benefit of all Ghanaians.
“Naturally, the fishing ports themselves by nature are not huge income-generating facilities and will continue to be expensive to maintain, but we have to add that as part of our collective GPHA responsibility. We see the fishing harbours more as welfare projects that are supposed to at least enhance the community and livelihoods, so that is the angle we are looking at. We have that responsibility to make sure that they are efficiently managed. Definitely, users of the facility will use them at a fee. They will make some contribution towards covering the operating cost. We can only just be grateful to the government and, of course, to the Chinese government for this partnership that has led to this facility,” he said.
The General Manager in charge of Engineering at GPHA, Ing. Komla Ofori, told Eye on Port more about what the facility has to offer.
“Approximately 4,000 people will work here on a daily basis, making the site quite crowded. We have used the site optimally to get the best facilities in this small space. I believe that even the land facilities far exceed what the sea can bring, so if you’re expecting canoes bringing fish here, the volume of fish that will come in here will not be enough for the land facilities that we have. Ice, for example, may have to be sold to people on land who may need ice for other things or fish brought from elsewhere for storage, depending on what the situation will be,” he said.
In 2019, the Government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, began the construction and rehabilitation of fishing harbours and landing sites across 12 coastal towns in Ghana. The beneficiary towns include Axim, Dixcove, Moree, Mumford, Winneba, Senya Breku, Gomoa Fete, Ekumfi, Elmina, Teshie, Jamestown, and Keta.
These projects are expected to help maintain a hygienic environment for the processing and handling of fish while preventing and minimizing post-harvest losses for the fishermen. The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority is supervising the construction of all twelve fishing ports and landing site projects as the nation’s agency responsible for building, managing, and operating all ports and port-related infrastructure in Ghana.
Source: Eye on Port
