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A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led by Ghana's resident representative, Albert Touna-Mama, visited Meridian Port Services Ltd and the Port Expansion Project..
The official visit aimed to better understand the overall digitization of Tema port operations, in particular the paperless process.
Welcoming the team, Meridian Port Services Ltd.'s general manager, Mohamed Samara, has touted the company's successes over the past decade and has described it as one of the partnership models. public-private (PPP) project in Ghana, where a major infrastructure project was financed by a public-private partnership. MPS is a joint venture between the Ghana Ports & Harbors Authority and two of the world's leading port operators, APM Terminal and Bollore Transport & Logistics.
Regarding the IMF's project financing survey, the MPS CEO said the shareholders had opted for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. IFC is the world's largest development institution specializing in private sector investment in emerging markets.
The immediate cash requirement for the Tema Port Expansion Project was USD 1 billion. MPS obtained $ 667 million in IFC project financing, while MPS shareholders provided the remaining $ 333 million in equity financing.
Financing the construction of a new port at Tema represents IFC's largest port investment and the largest infrastructure mobilization to date in sub-Saharan Africa. It includes $ 195 million from its own account and $ 472 million from three commercial banks: the Bank of China, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Standard Bank and the Dutch development bank FMO.
Mr. Samara stated that "The investment of MPS is an attestation of the realization of GHANA BEYOND AID's vision of HE. President Akufo-Addo. In addition, MPS is preparing to achieve Her Excellency's long-term goal of making Ghana a thriving emerging market economy that can unleash the full potential of Ghanaians, young and old, rich and poor, here in Greater Accra. and across this nation. "
The MPS management team briefed the delegation on the background and future developments, demonstrating that MPS, since its inception, has pushed the boundaries to establish the most efficient port in Central and West Africa.
MPS has been out of paper since the beginning of its operations with the introduction of its new NAVIS-4 Terminal Operating System (TOS), which has been upgraded in recent years. The terminal has also introduced the berthing system, reducing anchoring time, resulting in a significant reduction in freight costs.
The CEO of MPS hinted that the previously applied port congestion surcharge had been removed, allowing the Ghanaian economy to save huge sums and improve the cost of commercial transactions at the port. from Tema. He added that the freight rate of the Far East to Tema was at least 1,000 USD lower than that of Lagos and several other ports.
Few videos have been displayed, including a virtual drive through the new facility, equipped with the most advanced technology, in full compliance with the government's drive for efficiency, with paperless secure processes that protect the collection national revenue.
During the presentation at the council hall, the IMF team visited the terminal to get a real idea of what we saw in the virtual drive via the video. Mark Nolet, Project Director, emphasized "What we have here is a facility with the best of gantry crane technology. These include automatic scanners, biometric access control, video surveillance, radio frequency identification (RFID), optical character recognition (OCR), license plate recognition (LPR) portal and weighbridges. "
It was further noted that the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) controlled delivery processes via the single window platform and generated the verdict after badysis.
MPS envisions that this new terminal-3 is an investment in the right direction, which will advance the agenda of the free continental market. It will create new roads and direct connections giving access to entrepreneurs to grow their business and thrive.
If Ghana's current market capacity were doubled to 2 million TEUs at the opening of the new port facility, it would result in an improvement in the quality and volume of employment and a increase in tax revenue.
The Port of Tema expansion project remains the main investment of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in sub-Saharan Africa.
The IMF team was particularly pleased to attend the docking of the first commercial vessel, a test ship intended to begin testing operations of the first phase of the terminal recently completed.
Mr. Albert Touna-Mama, IMF representative in Ghana, congratulated the Managing Director and the management team for the impressive development of the port which, in his opinion and that of his team, was an event exciting and revealing. He added, "visiting the port facilities of the MPS rebadures us a lot about the fact that Ghana is going in the right direction".
– Daily guide
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