A portion of the rail project
A request for proposals has been issued to three pre-qualified companies, as part of the bidding process for the Ghana-Burkina Faso interconnectivity project.
The project is expected to see the construction of 1,110 km of rail lines linking Ghana and its neighbours.
A third phase of bilateral engagements was held in Accra on Thursday, 22 April 2021, which brought together officials from the Ministry of Railways Development, transaction advisors, the pre-qualified consortia and a delegation from the Republic of Burkina Faso led by its Minister of Transport, Urban Mobility and Road Safety, Mr Vincent Timbindi Dabilgou.
After the deliberations, three companies: China Engineering Company No. 10, African Global Group and Frontline Advisors, have been issued with a request for proposals paving the way for the selection of the most favourable firm to engage in the actual construction work, which is scheduled to commence in the first-quarter of next year.
Railways Development minister John-Peter Amewu expressed the hope that the project, when completed, would yield mutual benefits for both Burkina Faso and Ghana.
“It is based on some mode of evaluation that we came down to these three. So, these three are now going through competitive evaluation processes, which we expected to end in the next three months”, he said.
“Projects of this nature take into consideration your financial capability, technical capability, your past experience and your ability to demonstrate that you can do it,” he added.
Touching on the timelines for the interconnectivity project, Mr Amewu noted that the bidders’ conference was a critical point toward the rollout date.
It is expected that submissions of technical and financial proposals by the bidders will be made in mid-July 2021, which will allow for an evaluation to be carried out in August.
Further negotiations are expected to take place ahead of the rollout of the project in the first quarter of next year.
Mr Amewu reaffirmed the commitment of the two governments to continue and remain focused to ensure the realisation of the major transportation linkage.
Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com
