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| Accra To Get First Monorail |
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| Date: 26-Jul-2010 |
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An American firm, Intercontinental Commerce Corporation (ICC) has unveiled a US$1.5 billion transportation project with the aim of easing the traffic congestion situation in the country’s capital, Accra.
The proposed project, on completion, will see the construction of an elevated eight-mile monorail facility with 16 stations - for the first phase - covering Osu, Ministries and Kwame Nkrumah Circle with its first station at the Danquah Circle.
A Transportation Engineer & Specialist of Intercontinental Development Corporation (IDC) -financiers of the project - Dr. Ron Watson told B&FT in an interview in Accra that the Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding with government in 2008 on the construction of the project.
He said the firm is now in talks with the new government to renegotiate some aspects of the proposal presented to government to help address the transportation problems in the country. “I can only hope they accept it,” he said. The Chairman and President of ICC, E.J Miller, on his part said the corporation has the capacity and technical know-how to undertake such an ambitious project after several years in the construction industry - having constructed multi-purpose facilities in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan.
“This project is feasible and it is not only about talking. We have done our initial studies and we put our money where our mouth is,’ said Mr. Miller. The Corporation is therefore awaiting the green-light from government before construction works on the project begins. Dr. Watson said the feasibility studies will take about a year to complete, with construction of the project lasting about five years.
The monorail system will be run by electric power and will travel above ground at a cruising speed of 80 kilometers per hour, with an estimated 700,000 rides a day. The project will also include a hotel, business and conference centre, multi-storey shopping complex, mixed-use buildings with apartments and condos, a beach resort with luxury villas and golf course, and other real-estate developments.
The project is a fully-funded private initiative to be financed with loans sourced from American banks, which are expected take in about 85 percent of the project’s cost while the rest will be taken up by Intercontinental Development Corporation (IDC). That means government will contribute nothing toward its construction.
Dr. Watson said the company will construct its own energy supply facility to guarantee constant electricity supply to the transportation system, which will be an automaticlly driven machine. He explained that the monorail system will be integrated into the existing transportation infrastructure system and will run 24/7 with a capacity to carry about 1,000 passengers per ride.
“When completed, over 1,000 full-time jobs will be created by the monorail company, while more than 15,000 jobs will be created during the construction period,” he said.
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| Source: B&FT |
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