Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku‑Agyemang called for the accelerated development of Volta Lake into a logistics and commercial transport corridor to support trade, agriculture and job creation on September 3, 2026, during the World Bank Western and Central Africa Senior Leadership Team Retreat in Accra.
She outlined a multimodal system that would move goods from Tema to Akosombo by road or rail, then onto commercially operated barges across the lake, before transferring them at inland terminals to road networks reaching Tamale and markets in Burkina Faso, Mali and the wider Sahel.
“If properly developed, it can connect northern Ghana more efficiently to the south, support agriculture, facilitate trade, create industrial activity, and open opportunities for communities,” Prof. Opoku‑Agyemang said.
She described the project as more than a transport initiative, arguing that the lake could become a major “jobs corridor” as infrastructure investment stimulates industrial and commercial activity.
The Vice President said the government is open to working with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to structure the Volta Lake Transport Project so it is commercially viable, attractive to private investors and integrated into Ghana’s broader economic strategy. She also highlighted potential roles for the World Bank Group, IFC and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) in supporting public infrastructure, institutional capacity, transaction structuring and risk mitigation.
Linking the corridor to the government’s wider economic transformation agenda—including the 24‑Hour Economy, Big Push infrastructure programme, agricultural transformation and accelerated export initiatives—she urged a deliberate connection between infrastructure, production, finance, skills and market access.
Emphasising regional trade, especially through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), she said efficient logistics infrastructure is critical for Ghanaian manufacturers, farmers, service providers and technology firms to compete in regional value chains.
Prof. Opoku‑Agyemang concluded that the ultimate objective must be to create productive jobs at a scale matching Ghana’s growing population, calling for a coherent jobs strategy that links skills to enterprise, infrastructure to production, finance to investment and firms to larger markets.
The Vice President expressed Ghana’s readiness to collaborate with the World Bank Group, IFC, MIGA, the private sector and development partners to advance the country’s economic transformation agenda.
