Ghana's transport sector needs a review - Addai

Accra, June 23, GNA - Mr Peter Ochere Addai, Manager of the West Africa Office of Air Namibia on Thursday said Ghana's transport sector could only improve with the required infrastructure and the employment of professionals to effectively manage the systems.

He said, 93Without these measures the sector will perpetually fail to yield the anticipated dividends for users, operators and the economic paradise we aspire will be a mirage."

Speaking at the launch of a Transport Investment Summit and Exhibition in Accra, Mr Addai said it was sad that after 54 years of independence, Ghana seemed not to be getting things right and every aspect of the economy over the years had been performing below expectation.

The summit, a partnership of the Ministry of Transport and FAAR Event Management, was held under the theme: 93Transportation as an Economic Apparatus for Efficient National Development". It is expected to attract investments to improve the transportation sector and make it very efficient.

Mr Addai said all economic activities evolved around not just any type of transport but an efficient, seamless and sustainable transport network, adding 93proper national development is dependent upon such a system."

"Many sectors of the Ghanaian economy are not gearing up and will continue to be so until stakeholders and authorities make conscious efforts to restructure the entire transport system of the country," he said.

Mr Addai said the transport business was a delicate and capital intensive venture which needed a very efficient revenue management system to ensure that artificial leakages were blocked and took a swipe at management of the demised Ghana International Airline for not putting such a measure in place.

He said available records at the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) indicated that air traffic at Kotoka International Airport (KIA) would grow continually at the rate of 15 per cent for the next 10 years.

Mr Addai noted that it was unfortunate that there was no Ghanaian registered airline to pick up the market share of the nation, and that even the quality of some road construction companies in the cities left much to be desired.

"The reality is that the problem will not go away until steps are taken to eliminate them," he said.

However, Deputy Minister of Transport, Ms Dzifa Ativor launching the Summit said some Ghanaian registered airlines would start operations by the end of the year.

Carrier Licenses have been given to Africa World Airline, Eagle Atlantic Airline, Starboo and Pioson Airlines, she said, adding that the only outstanding permit was operating licenses to enable them to fly.

She said the initiative was solely private and government would play the regulatory role to help make Ghana a transport hub in the sub-region. Ms Ativor said government's aim of stimulating the railway sector, modernisation of the Kotoka International Airport, upgrading of the Tamale

Aerodrome and the harbours attest to the fact that government was leaving no stone unturned to rejuvenate the sector.

Mr Reginald Ansah Adjaye Frimpong, CEO of Faar Event Management, said the summit scheduled for October 3-5 this year, is to redefine the transport sector better for the country.

He announced that about 22 countries including Japan, China, US and Korea would participate to explore possible areas of investment.