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The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $23.04 million loan to Prime Meridian Docks AssetCo Ltd (PMD), a special purpose entity, to co-finance the construction of a modern floating dock ship repair facility in Ghana’s western Takoradi port.
The loan will support PMD to design, build, operate and maintain a ship repair and maintenance facility in the Gulf of Guinea under a 25-year concession granted by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, AfDB said in a statement.
The project, estimated to cost $137 million, will involve constructing a 200-metre jetty, dredging 300,000 cubic metres of rock in the port basin, and procuring and installing a 13,500-tonne lift capacity floating dock.
The bank also authorised the syndication, on a “best efforts basis”, of additional financing of up to $11 million.
AfDB’s hard currency long-term financing for the project will create over 400 permanent jobs, of which 15 percent are expected to go to women, the statement added.
(Writing by P Deol; Editing by Anoop Menon)