The board of directors of the African Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$23.04 million loan to Prime Meridian Docks (PMD), a special purpose entity to co-finance the construction of a modern floating dock ship repair facility in Ghana's western port of Takoradi.
The loan will aid PMD in designing, building, operating, and maintaining the ship repair and maintenance facility under a 25-year concession granted to the company by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority.
The project, which is estimated to cost US$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 facility will also have offices, a warehouse, mechanical workshops for steel and pipe fabrication, electrical works, blasting and painting, and equipment maintenance.
The board also authorised the syndication of additional financing of up to US$11 million on a "best efforts basis".