As part of the calls for a transformed transport system, the World Bank is urging the Government of Ghana to abandon its historical approach to railway development and adopt a commercially viable “freight-first” rail strategy.
According to the World Bank’s 10th Ghana Economic Update, titled “Reset for Growth: Sustaining Macroeconomic Recovery and Unlocking Transport for Transformation”, this strategic shift is the most realistic way to revive the country’s collapsed railway network, protect its roads, and spark job creation across the nation.
The Bank notes that over the last several decades, Ghana’s operational railway track has severely contracted, shrinking from 947 kilometers in 1960 to a mere 160 kilometers by 2020. This near-total collapse has had severe spillover effects on the rest of the economy.
For instance, heavy commodities like manganese, bauxite, and cocoa are routinely hauled by trucks across asphalt roads, which has accelerated highway destruction, created a massive road maintenance backlog, and drastically inflated shipping costs. To reverse this decline, the World Bank warns that Ghana must move away from passenger-dominated rail planning and put heavy freight first.
The Commercial Logic: Freight Pays for the Tracks
The underpinning of the World Bank’s recommendation is grounded in commercial viability. Historically, passenger-only rail services in Ghana have never generated enough fare revenue to cover their basic day-to-day operating costs.
Because rail projects are highly capital-intensive, private investors are unwilling to commit their funds unless they can see a guaranteed, steady stream of revenue. The Bank believes that a “freight-first” sequencing policy solves this commercial challenge.
By anchoring the initial phase of railway reconstruction around large, predictable bulk cargo volumes, the government can make rail lines financially sustainable and highly attractive to private investors. Once a commercially viable freight rail system is operational and profitable, it will generate the necessary infrastructure and financial base to eventually support passenger trains.
This, the World Bank says, is not a departure from the country’s development goals, but rather the essential prerequisite to achieving them.
The Priority Corridors: Cocoa and Minerals
To implement this policy, the World Bank recommends prioritizing and sequencing two primary commercial rail lines;
The Western Corridor: Rebuilding the rail line to transport bulk manganese and bauxite from inland mines directly to the Takoradi Port
The Eastern Corridor: Connecting rich cocoa and agricultural producing regions directly to the Tema Port
The 10th Ghana Economic Update further notes that both corridors have high, verified commodity flows that are more than sufficient to support bankable Public-Private Partnership (PPP) freight concession structures.
A Call to Action
To turn this policy into reality, the World Bank has charged the Ghanaian government to execute five specific actions.
Commission a Verified Freight Demand Study: The government must carry out a rigorous demand study to prove to private investors that freight volumes are highly bankable.
Resolve Right-of-Way Claims: Land and property claims along the Western and Eastern corridors must be quickly cleared to prevent project delays.
Build the Capacity of the Regulator: The government must strengthen the board and technical capacity of the Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA) so it can successfully lead complex, multi-million-dollar concession negotiations.
Unclog Inland Terminals: Policymakers must resolve the persistent regulatory bottlenecks that are currently limiting the operations of the Boankra Inland Container Depot and the Mpakadan Dry Port. Fast-tracking the full operationalization of these dry ports is vital, as they dramatically strengthen the commercial viability of both rail corridors.
Develop Keta Port: The government should advance the development of the Keta Port as a strategic African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) asset with built-in hinterland connectivity.
The Bottomline
For the World Bank, it is convinced that adopting a “freight-first” rail policy is also key to unlocking jobs and regional growth. Currently, because transporting heavy raw materials over bad roads is so expensive, processing factories are forced to locate near coastal ports like Takoradi and Tema to minimize costs.
This has stripped inland mining and farming regions of industrial jobs. A functioning freight rail system would change the economic landscape by dramatically lowering transport costs.
It would make it highly profitable for companies to build processing and value-addition plants near inland agricultural belts, mining towns, and dry ports. This would widen the geography of private investment and bring stable, high-paying jobs to the regions where they are needed most.
