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Thirty-two railway engineers from South Africa are expected in Accra next week to work together with their counterparts at the Ghana Railways Development Authority (GRDA) on the 40-kilometre Accra-Nsawam railway line.

The Minister of Railways Development, Mr Joe Ghartey, who made this known last Wednesday, said work was expected to be completed by the end of this year.

He was speaking at the palace of the Queenmother of Nsawam, Nana Awoyaa Amankwah I, after inspecting the state of the railway lines at Kotoku in the Ga West Municipal Assembly, Chinto and Nsawam, both in the Nsawam-Adoagyiri Municipality.

He was accompanied by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh, the Municipal Chief Executive of Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Mr Kofi Buabeng, and engineers from the GRDA.

Mr Ghartey said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo would commission the project at the end of the year to mark the beginning of the revamping of the railway network in the country.

He stated that 720 people would be engaged to work on the railway line, indicating that most of the people would be from Nsawam and surrounding areas.

He added that squatters within the demarcated area for the rail lines would be evicted to pave the way for the construction work.

Ease of traffic

According to Mr Ghartey, the government would procure speed trains which could run at 150 kilometres per hour, noting that one speed train could carry about 880 passengers at a go.

He said the operations of the trains would facilitate easy movement, as well as ease the traffic congestion on the Accra-Nsawam road.

Mr Ghartey expressed optimism that commercial activities would pick up in the railway area and that would improve the living standards of the people of Nsawam and its surrounding areas.

Collaborative effort

Mr Annoh-Dompreh, for his part, said the government would give a human face to the eviction exercise and urged the people not to politicise the issue.

"We will find a way of resolving the issue of encroachers amicably. It is not about politics. It is about the welfare of the people,’’ he stressed.

Mr Annoh-Dompreh explained that the aim was to open the transportation system in Nsawam and reignite commercial activities in the area to provide jobs to the people.

He, therefore, urged the residents to collaborate with the GRDA to ensure the smooth execution of the project.

Nana Awoyaa Amankwah I lauded the government for its plan to revamp the Accra-Nsawam railway line and indicated that it would bring back the past glory of the area.