Ghana Maritime Authority to phase out wooden commuter boats

Accra, Feb. 15, GNA - Wooden commuter boats would soon be phased out t= o ensure improved and safe water transport system in the country. Mr Issaka Peter Azuma, Director General of Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) announced this when he addressed a staff durbar in Accra on Tuesday. He expressed dissatisfaction over the materials and method used in building the boats, describing them as unsuitable, unprofessional and unsafe.

The durbar was organised as part of a familiarisation tour by Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister of Transport to get acquainted with management and staff of departments and agencies under the Ministry. The GMA was established by Act 640 of 2002 but became operational in 2007 to monitor, regulate and co-ordinate activities in the maritime industry.

Mr Azuma expressed worry that the commuter boats were made of soft wood, a material, which according to him, was water-absorbent to qualify fo= r safe water transport. In addition, the wooden boats were traditionally built making it unsuitable for seafaring. Mr Azumah suggested the use of fibre glass, aluminum and other modern materials for the construction of commuter boats instead of soft wood. "GMA has prepared navigational safety notices to advise mariners and seafaring communities to maintain a safe distance of five nautical miles radius from the development around the jubilee oil fields," he said. Mr Azuma proposed the construction of passenger reception and landing facilities at major destinations around the Volta Lake such as Yeji, Makango, Kete Krachi, Dambai, and Tapa to open up the hinterland for development.

Alhaji Dauda called for attitudinal and behavioural change to enable Ghana leap-frog to socio-economic development. He said the country was endowed with many rich natural and human-based resources and yet Ghana faced many developmental challenges.

"We need a change in attitude and behaviour to get results," he sa= id, adding that the change was crucial to achieve set targets. Alhaji Dauda called on the management and staff of GMA to collaborate to achieve results stressing that laziness would not be tolerated. He also toured premises of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) and charged the management to organise a durbar on road safety for drivers and passengers on Tuesday February 22. Alhaji Dauda tasked the management to formulate proposals on safety an= d security in the lorry parks and submit them within a month for consideratio= n and action.

Mr Noble John Appiah, Executive Director of NRSC, appealed to the Sector Minister to facilitate the enactment of Road Traffic Regulation Act 683 saying, 93it has taken so long a time."

He expressed the hope that management would endeavour to achieve a single digit figure on road crash by 2015.

Mr Appiah identified weak regulatory framework, constant increase in vehicle population, inadequate funding, inadequate enforcement capacity, lo= w priority given to road safety and road infrastructure development as some o= f the bane to Ghana's road transport development. Others are lack of maintenance as well as inadequate political and community commitment.