Tema is a city on the

Bight of Benin The Bight of Benin or Bay of Benin is a bight in the Gulf of Guinea area on the western African coast that derives its name from the historical Kingdom of Benin. Geography It extends eastward for about from Cape St. Paul to the Nun outlet of t ...

and Atlantic coast of Ghana. It is located east of the capital city;

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

, in the region of

Greater Accra The Greater Accra Region has the smallest area of Ghana's 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of 3,245 square kilometres. This is 1.4 per cent of the total land area of Ghana. It is the second most populated region, befor ...

, and is the capital of the

Tema Metropolitan District Tema Metropolitan District is one of the twenty-nine districts in Greater Accra Region, Ghana. Originally created as a municipal district assembly in 1988 when it was known as Tema Municipal District, which was created from the former Tema Distric ...

. As of 2013, Tema is the eleventh most populous settlement in Ghana, with a population of approximately 161,612 people – a marked decrease from its 2005 figure of 209,000.Tema
. GhanaWeb.com. Retrieved 9 March 2013. The

Greenwich Meridian The historic prime meridian or Greenwich meridian is a geographical reference line that passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in London, England. The modern IERS Reference Meridian widely used today ...

(00 Longitude) passes directly through the city.Greater Accra » Tema Metropolitan
. GhanaDistricts.com. Retrieved 9 March 2013. Tema is locally nicknamed the "Harbour City" because of its status as Ghana's largest seaport. It consists of 25 different communities which are numbered accordingly with each of them having easy access to the basic amenities. Tema is a city constructed on the site of a small fishing village. Tema was commissioned by Ghana's first president,

Kwame Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An in ...

, and grew rapidly after the construction of a large harbour in 1961. The Tema metropolis was designed, planned and developed by the award-winning urban planner and Ghana's first architect,

Theodore S. Clerk Theodore Shealtiel Clerk, (4 September 1909 – 1965) was an urban planner on the Gold Coast and the first formally trained, professionally certified Ghanaian architect. Attaining a few historic firsts in his lifetime, Theodore Clerk became th ...

. The design team included a number of architects trained in London at the Architectural Association. It is now a major trading centre, home to an oil refinery and numerous factories, and is linked to Accra by a highway and railway. Tema is one of Ghana's two deep seaports, the other being Sekondi-Takoradi. Tema became an Autonomous Council in 1974 and was elevated to the status of a Metropolitan Assembly in December 1990. Tema metropolitan forms part of the sixteen Metropolis, Municipalities and Districts in the Greater Accra Region. The Metropolitan shares boundaries with Ashaiman Municipal, Adenta Municipal District, and Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal District to the west respectively, to the east with Kpone Katamanso District, to the North with

Dangme West District Dangme West District is a former district that was located in Greater Accra Region, Ghana. Originally created as an ordinary district assembly in 1988, which was created from the former Dangme District Council. However on 28 June 2012, it was spli ...

and to the South with the Gulf of Guinea.

History

Tema was built on the site of a small fishing village called Torman, named for the local name of the calabash plant, Tor, which was cultivated there. "Tema" is derived from a corruption of "Torman". The government identified the site before independence, and in 1952 acquired of land north of the harbour, which was entrusted to the Tema Development Corporation for the new industrial and residential development. The villagers of Torman migrated to a new fishing ground around away, which they called Newtown."Poverty In The Mist of Riches"
. GhanaWeb.com. Retrieved 9 March 2013. The main Tema Township was constructed, and the

Tema Harbour Tema Harbour is a harbour located in Tema in the southeastern part of Ghana, along the Gulf of Guinea. President Nkrumah appointed Theophilus Asiaw Mills as the first District Commissioner. The importance of Tema as a port and industrial hub is reflected by the fact that the Ghana Police Service maintains a special policing region devoted entirely to the city. A large population influx began in the 1960s owing to the town's employment opportunities, but the Tema Development Corporation was unable to construct housing and provide other services to meet the needs of the migrants.Tema
. OT Africa Line. Retrieved 9 March 2013. The Tema Newtown district was overwhelmed by the sudden population growth, and became the poor cousin of Tema Township, receiving none of the latter's improved housing, geometrically laid roads, or social amenities. Moreover, royalties paid by Tema Newtown's companies to evicted villagers have not been used due to a chieftain dispute. The area's fishing potential was thus not fully exploited.

Climate

Tema is characterised by a

hot semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

(''BSh'' under the Köppen climate classification). It lies in the driest part of southern Ghana, experiencing average annual rainfall of about . Average temperatures are very warm to hot year-round, typically exceeding every day of the year, whilst minima never typically fall under

Economy

Industry

The town's chief industrial products include aluminium, steel, processed fish, refined petroleum, textile, chemicals, food products, and cement. Major companies operating in Tema include Volta Aluminium (VALCO),

Tema Oil Refinery The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) is one of two crude oil refineries in Ghana. History The refinery is in Tema, the most industrialized city in Ghana. It is from Accra, the capital of Ghana. The refinery was first named the Ghanaian Italian Petroleum ...

(TOR), Nestlé Ghana Ltd., Wahome Steel Ltd,

Tema Shipyard Tema Shipyard is a sea vessel construction company located in the port city of Tema in Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

. There is also a Free zone enclave in Tema.

Seaport

Tema Port, which was opened in 1962, is the biggest of the two seaports in Ghana.In 2020 a $1.5 billion expansion project to increase container output to 3 million TEU was completed.The port is currently one of the largest container ports in Africa. It has a water-enclosed area of and a total land area of . Apart from handling Ghanaian imports and exports, it is also a traffic junction, dealing with transit cargo destined for the landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The port of Tema handles 80% of Ghana's import and export cargo, including the country's chief export,

cacao Cacao is the seed from which cocoa and chocolate are made, from Spanish cacao, an adaptation of Nahuatl cacaua, the root form of cacahuatl ("bean of the cocoa-tree"). It may also refer to: Plants *''Theobroma cacao'', a tropical evergreen tree ** ...

. The port has of breakwaters, 12 deepwater berths, an outsize oil tanker berth, a dockyard, warehouses, and transit sheds. The port has open and covered areas for the storage of cargo, including a 77,200-m² (7.72-hectare) paved area for the storage of containers, steel products and other conventional cargo. The port's container yard is capable of holding over 8,000 TEUs at any given time. The closed storage area, which is about 25,049 m² (2.51 hectares) in area, consists of six sheds with a total storage capacity of 50,000 tonnes of cargo. The port also includes a 100,000- dwt dry dock and slipway facility.Tema
. Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority. Retrieved 9 March 2013. The harbour is operated by the

Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) is the national port authority of Ghana. Between the 16th and 18th centuries foreign trade in the then Gold Coast was undertaken from about 40 landing points scattered around the Gold Coast. By the 19 ...

Fishing harbour

Ghana has a long history of fishing. The Tema fishing harbour is at the eastern end of the town's commercial harbour. It comprises the Inner Fishing Harbour, the Canoe Basin, the Outer Fishing Harbour, and a commercial area with marketing and cold storage facilities. The Inner Fishing Harbour was constructed along the Tema Main Port in 1962 to provide a handling facility for semi-industrial and industrial fishing vessels, and to encourage the development of the local fishing industry. In 1965, the Outer Fishing Harbour was constructed for bigger industrial vessels such as trawlers, tuna vessels, and deep-sea carriers. The trawlers operating in the area are 30–45 m long and are able to land 55–65 tonnes of fish (usually redfish and club and scad

mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...

) per fishing trip. The tuna vessels range from smaller boats around 45–50 m in length, able to land 200–250 tonnes of catch, to larger versions with a length of 50–65 m and the ability to land up to 650 tonnes per fishing trip. The largest fishing vessels, the deep-sea carriers (with lengths of 90–105 m), are mostly

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

ed vessels. Since 1984, the national catch has averaged about 200,000 to 300,000 metric tonnes per annum. Ghana's tuna catch has maintained a stable level of 30,000 tonnes per annum since 1981. The Canoe Basin caters for the artisanal fishermen. The basin is normally occupied by about 400 canoes. These are mainly two types: wooden vessels, locally called "Legelege", and metallic vessels. The wooden canoes have lengths over all (

LOA ( ), also called loa or loi, are spirits in the African diasporic religion of Haitian Vodou. They have also been incorporated into some revivalist forms of Louisiana Voodoo. Many of the lwa derive their identities in part from deities venerate ...

) ranging between 30 and 70 m, mainly owned and operated by indigenous Ghanaians. Their operations peak during the months of June–September. Artisanal canoe fishing is responsible for about 70% of the catch.

Development

The Tema Development Corporation (TDC) is a

public entity A statutory corporation is a government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, thus, they are statutes owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government to the (in ...

tasked with the planning and development of the entire city of Tema. Affordable public housing was developed by the government in conjunction with TDC and the State Housing Corporation. The corporation has been instrumental in developing the harbour area of Tema in particular, with modern housing. The corporation was set up in 1952 with the sole aim to develop and manage the township of Tema. In 1963, the ''Tema Development Corporation Act'' was passed. In recent years the corporation has had much investment from Korea, including plans, as of 2013, to build a new stadium, an idea which proved unpopular with squatters. The first chief executive officer of the corporation was

, the first Ghanaian architect and award-winning urban planner who served in the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

position from 1963 after the enactment of the statute, until 1965.

Transportation

There are Public Transports from Tema to major cities such as Kumasi;

; Mim, Ahafo ;

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city, fishing port, and the capital of Cape Coast Metropolitan District and Central Region of Ghana. It is one of the country's most historic cities, a World Heritage Site, home to the Cape Coast Castle, with the Gulf of Guinea ...

, Sunyani; Takoradi; Tamale; Ho; Wa; Bolgatanga; Elubo; Aflao, Techiman.

Education

SOS-Hermann Gmeiner International College (SOS-HGIC), a private mixed

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

catering to the 10th to 13th grades, is located in Tema. It previously used the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) for the 10th and 11th grades and the International Baccalaureate (IB) for the 12th and 13th grades but currently runs the full IB Diploma program for all four grades. The school was headed by Margaret Nkrumah for over 15 years, and is now headed by Mr Israel Titi Ofei and Nii Amaa Akita. Tema also has an international school,

Tema International School Tema International School is an international school based in Tema, Ghana, West Africa. Classes are offered from primary through to IB Diploma. The school year is divided into 2 semesters (August–December & January–June). The school was establis ...

(TIS), which is second to HGIC, and a senior high school,

Tema Secondary School Tema is a city on the Bight of Benin and Atlantic coast of Ghana. It is located east of the capital city; Accra, in the region of Greater Accra, and is the capital of the Tema Metropolitan District. As of 2013, Tema is the eleventh most populo ...

(TSS or Temasco), which was built on 22 September 1961. Tema has a number of public Secondary schools such as

Chemu Senior High School Chemu Secondary School is a coeducational second-cycle institution at Tema, in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. It is a day-boarding school (no provision of hostel) that is located at Community four in Tema. History The school became establi ...

in Community 4, Tema Methodist Day School, Mahean Senior High School,

Our Lady of Mercy Senior High School Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of " we" * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a government utility regula ...

and Tema Technical Institute. Private Preparatory Schools like Creator Schools, St Paul Methodist Primary and JHS, Marbs Preparatory School, Datus Complex, Deks Educational Institute, Naylor SDA School, Tema Christian Centre, Tema Parents Association, First Baptist School, Tema Regular Baptist School, Queen Esther School, Dorsons School, Adwenie Memorial, Creator School, New Covenant School, St Alban's School, Lorenz Wolf School, Bexhill School Complex, Life International School, Mazon Grace Academy, Santabarbera School, Angels Specialist School, First Star Academy, Pentecost School, Star School Complex, Tema Ridge, St John Bosco School and Rosharon Montessori School. Public primary and Junior High schools exist in Tema. Twedaase Primary School, Star School, Aggrey Road School, Republic Road School, Padmore School, Mante Din Drive, Amen Basic, Manhean SDA, School, Bethel Methodist School among others.

Twin cities

References

External links

Ghana-pedia webpage – Tema

Latest Tema Ghana News
{{Authority control Populated places in the Greater Accra Region 1952 establishments in Gold Coast (British colony)