GHANA: Areas in oil producing West turn into boomtowns as residents say the arrival of oil has invigorated the local economy

Record ID: 343858

  • Title: GHANA: Areas in oil producing West turn into boomtowns as residents say the arrival of oil has invigorated the local economy
  • Date: 26th May 2011
  • Summary: TEMA, GHANA (File) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF OFFSHORE OIL EXPLORATION SITE GHANA'S FLAG
  • Embargoed: 10th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ghana, Ghana
  • Country: Ghana
  • Topics: Industry,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVA8JO4K6TZ05JQ7PNWPLWY1K1K4
  • Story Text: The discovery of oil off the coast of Ghana is triggering change in the once run-down port city of Takoradi.
    Where battered and colourless sign boards and shop fronts once lined the streets of the city centre, watch counters, 3G phone shops and stores selling Chinese household products have spilled onto the road.
    Residents say the arrival of oil has invigorated the local economy and all of Ghana's major banks have opened branches in the last few months.
    On the west side of town, up-market villas and rapidly constructed apartments blocks are eating into forest and farmland.
    Air conditioned business class mini-buses or 'tro-tro' now ply the coastal road to the capital Accra.
    "People are happy that we get oil in Takoradi, we get oil in Ghana, people are happy but we boys in Ghana, we are suffering, we don't get how to get a job so we are waiting," said Mark Andoh, one of the many residents with high hopes for the jobs and money the oil is expected to bring in.
    In the neon lit bars of Takoradi's nightclubs, young women are seen arm in arm with older rig workers.
    "Before the oil exploration, Takoradi was a bit boring and all that but now it's freaky," said Akpalu, a young girl in a sea front bar.
    But like any boomtown, oil has also come with problems. Land prices are said to have quadrupled to 20 US dollars per square metre in the last five years. Locals complain that landlords have been evicting residents looking to rent land to oil workers at inflated rates.
    According to district police commander Dela Dzansi, prostitution is also on the rise.
    "The manifest for now is only on this prostitution, you hear that a lot of sex workers have migrated into the system, some of which we are informed are international, because some of them have moved form Nigeria, Mali, and some other countries into the system," he said.
    Civil society groups have also warned hospitals and schools may struggle to cope with the town's expanding population.
    The government has promised to draw up a national strategy for oil revenues and a draft bill is expected to reach parliament by July.
    Local hiring in the oil sector is said to be crucial in maintaining stability as the country moves to join Africa's other oil producing states.
    But while new laws and regulations will help ease the transition in the capital Accra, for now it's up to residents in cities like Takoradi to come to terms with the changes oil will bring.
    Ghana made its first big oil find off the coast from Takoradi in 2007, and turned on the taps late last year.
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