Ghana Institute Of Engineers meet Dr. Thomas Mensah

Dr. Thomas Mensah met with the leadership of the Ghana Institute of

Engineers in Accra during his recent visit to Ghana on December 28th,

2017 at the Engineering Center Building.

The New President of Ghana Institute of Engineers; Ing Mrs Carlien D.

Bou - Chedid, a Structural and Civil Engineer and the leadership

discussed the Transportation Infrastructure in Ghana and how to

transform it. Dr. Thomas Mensah presented his High Speed Rail proposal

for Ghana, stressing the need to combine Freight with Passenger Rail

as has been done in Kenya, Ethiopia and Morocco.

The Institute leadership agreed with Dr. Mensah about how this can

transform Ghana and its beneficial impact on the Ghana's Economy in

creating jobs for the Youth and its Citizens. It was agreed that the

current attempt by the Ghana Railway Development Authority/Ministry of

Railways to rehabilitate existing antiquated Rail lines is too costly

and will take a long time. ($22 Billion versus $3 Billion as has been

done in Kenya,). It was recommended that the Ghana Railway Development

Authority/Ministry of Railways should focus on a Phase One Plan

similar to the one used by Kenya with the Chinese Developers.

Dr. Mensah showed a video which indicated details of the Kenya Model

for High Speed Rail Development and agreed that this will be the

fastest and less costly way of building the Ghana High Speed Rail Line

instead the Costly model of Rehabilitation the Legacy antiquated lines

that may not be safe to operate. He also showed how the Kenya Model,

Chinese Engineers are seeing working side by side with Kenya Citizens

laying the Rail Tracks, Installing advanced Rail Control Centers

with wide screens and technicians directing the trains and rerouting

them etc.

This approach transfers technology to Kenya and create jobs for the

citizens including women who are driving the High Speed Trains in

Kenya. The trains are helping move one million Containers as Freight

to the port of Mombasa increasing Port Efficiency. Other Countries

including Ethiopia have developed high speed rail that run on

electricity unlike the Kenya model that are locomotives still using

SGR system.

Dr. Mensah will recommend that the Kenya Model be used as

Phase I for Ghana High Speed Rail System Development since it does not

on electricity to drive the trains . The train travels at 120 KM/Hour

for passengers and 86 Km/Hour which means Ghana Electricity needs will

not be affected. The Ethiopian trains run on Electricity. The Chinese

built both systems. Morocco has built one using France as Developers

which also runs on Electricity.

Dr. Mensah in his recent meeting with His Excellency; Nana Akuffo

Addo, the President of of the Republic of Ghana at the Flagstaff House

showed an article indicting the benefit of Job Creation in Morocco

following their High Speed Rail Development, with three Car

Manufacturers, Renault, Peugeot and BYD of China locating there to

manufacture cars for sales to Africa and Europe.

Ghana will benefit if it build its High Speed Rail since Dr. Mensah

says he can convince other car manufacturers in the US and Europe ,

like General Motors,, Ford, Tesla and Mercedes to locate their

factories in Ghana. This will accelerate the One Factory –One District

program for His Excellency and NPP.

Dr. Mensah also discussed the New Airport Maintenance Facility to be

built in Kumasi Ghana where aircraft from all west African countries

will come to be maintained. These Aircraft now have to fly to South

Africa, Ethiopia and Amsterdam for Maintenance, Wasting fuel on such

long distance flights impacting sustainability. This Maintenance

Facility will also improve Aviation Safety in West Africa.

Finally Dr. Mensah discussed the set up of the Silicon Valley of GHANA

with 4 centers of Innovation at the University of Ghana Legon in

Accra, University of Cape Coast, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science

and Technology and the University for Development Studies; Tamale.

The website is www.Siliconvalleygh.com

These proposals were received by the Ghana Institute of Engineers

which indicated that it will organize a Forum on Transportation

Infrastructure in the coming months.

Among the reasons for working with the Ghana Institute of Engineers are;

1 . R.P Baffuor is among its past Presidents and Dr Mensah just gave

the 10th R.P. Baffuor Lecture at KNUST recently after which he was

given the Honorary Doctorate, D.Sc Honoraris Causa,

2 . Most engineers in the country are members or Fellows of the

Institute including; the Senior Minister; Hon. Yaw Osafo Marfo who is

a Fellow of the Institute.