Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has called for the accelerated development of the Volta Lake into a major logistics and commercial transport corridor to support trade, agriculture and job creation.
According to her, properly developing the lake could transform Ghana’s transport network by creating a multimodal route linking the southern and northern parts of the country, while opening up economic opportunities for communities along the corridor.
Speaking at the World Bank Western and Central Africa Senior Leadership Team Retreat in Accra on September 3, 2026, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said the Volta Lake presents a major opportunity to reshape Ghana’s economic geography.
She proposed a multimodal transport system where goods would move from Tema to Akosombo by road or rail before being transferred onto commercially operated barges for transportation through the lake.
The goods could then be transferred at inland terminals and connected to road networks serving 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.
More Than a Transport Route
The Vice President described the proposed development as more than a transport project, saying the Volta Lake could become a major “jobs corridor” as infrastructure investment drives industrial and commercial activity.
She said the government is open to working with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to structure the Volta Lake Transport Project in a way that is commercially viable, attractive to private investors and aligned with Ghana’s broader economic strategy.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang outlined potential roles for the World Bank Group, with the World Bank supporting public infrastructure, institutional capacity and policy frameworks, while the IFC could help structure transactions and mobilise private capital.
The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), she added, could help mitigate qualifying investment risks.
Linking Infrastructure to Jobs
The Vice President said Ghana’s development strategy must move beyond financing isolated projects towards building economic ecosystems capable of generating enterprises and productive employment at scale.
She linked the proposed Volta Lake corridor to the government’s broader economic transformation agenda, including the 24-Hour Economy, Big Push infrastructure programme, agricultural transformation and accelerated export initiatives.
According to her, these interventions must be deliberately connected to create productive opportunities by linking infrastructure to production, finance to investment, skills to enterprise and Ghanaian businesses to larger markets.
She also stressed the importance of regional trade through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), noting that Ghana’s success should ultimately be measured by the ability of local businesses to expand into the continental market.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said efficient logistics infrastructure would be critical in enabling Ghanaian manufacturers, farmers, service providers and technology firms to compete in regional value chains.
“The task now is to bring these efforts together around a coherent jobs strategy; linking skills to enterprise, infrastructure to production, finance to investment, and our firms to larger markets,” she said.
The Vice President said the ultimate objective must be to create productive jobs at a scale that matches the aspirations of Ghana’s growing population.
She expressed Ghana’s readiness to work with the World Bank Group, IFC, MIGA, the private sector and development partners to advance the country’s economic transformation agenda.
