Ghanair, Public Transport to Get Even Better -Minister

GHANA Airways (Ghanair), which was virtually bankrupt at the beginning of 2001, has bounced back to the extent of reducing its debt stock of US$167million by US$20 million, following the establishment of a new management.

The new management, which was established in July last year to arrange loans to secure the release of two seized DC10 planes from UK as a result of a court order on an account of its indebtedness to Alitalia, has been posting whopping profits.


This was made known yesterday at the latest in the series of Meet-the-press organised by the minister of Roads and Transport, Dr. Richard Winfred Anane.


According to him, the DC10 aircraft that had been grounded for more than 15 months because of Ghanair's inability to meet her part of contractual obligations, has now been ferried to Italy for the necessary C-checks and other maintenance needs. This, he said, was one of the measures taken to map out strategies to turn round the fortunes of the national carrier.


In addition, he said, a forensic audit, which was commissioned into Ghanair, has been completed and is undergoing perusal by the relevant institutions for advice on the action. The minister mentioned Pricewater House Coopers as one of the institutions that diagnosed the strategies to guide the government in seeking the way forward for the airline.


As to measures that the ministry is taking to improve public transport operations in the country, Dr. Anane said Parliament has approved a loan agreement under the Dutch Concessionary Financing for the importation of 100 high-occupancy DAF/Neoplan buses. This, he stated, is in fulfillment of the president's promise to the nation in the State of the Nation's address.


Also in support of government's initiative on mass transportation, the government and people of Italy are to donate a further 200 buses to Ghana. This became possible as a result of a request made by a delegation from Ghana to Italy for assistance to implement the government's mass transport initiative.

He said as at now, 47 buses have been delivered to the government of Ghana with a further 30 being expected by the end of the month, adding that in support of the initiative, the Dutch government has expressed further commitment by adding 250 DAF buses which are also expected in by the end of this year.


In order to boost the public mass transport system, Dr. Anane said the ministry, with the support of the Federal Transit Administration in the US, organized a West African sub-regional workshop on transportation infrastructure and service in Accra last August to assist in attracting American investors to partner Ghanaian entrepreneurs in the development of transport systems, preferably on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis.


Dr. Anane said that, as part of measures to achieve the BOT, the government is facilitating private investment and transport infrastructure and services.


Touching on the road sub-sector, the minister stated that the government's top priority is not only to construct and maintain key trunk roads, but also to rehabilitate and construct feeder roads to open the countryside and accelerate economic activities to ameliorate poverty in the country.


He stated that there is a paradigm shift in respect of feeder road development, indicating that the government has placed emphasis on the surfacing of the feeder roads.


Recounting the number of projects chalked by the ministry, Dr. Anane cited the reconstruction of the 116.1 kilometre Accra -Yamoransa road at an estimated cost of US$90 million as part of the Trans-Coastal West African Highway project. This project is in two sections, namely the 17.1km Mallam-Kasoa road and the 99km Kasoa-Yamoransa road.

The Mallam -Kasoa road which is to be developed into a dual carriage road with funding from the World Bank is currently on-going while Kasoa-Yamoransa road, supported with a grant from the Japanese government, is expected to start by August this year.


The others are Tema-Aflao; Tema-Sogakope-Akatsi; Akatsi-Aflao; Accra-Kumasi; Apedwa-Bunso; Bonsu-Anyinam and Anyinam-Konongo. Dr. Anane said the government has decided on the dualization of the three main trunk roads starting from Accra namely; Accra-Kumasi, Accra-Cape Coast and Tema-Aflao.


The minister noted that the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority has also chalked a number of achievements during the period January to December 2002. The project includes the completion of the phase II of the development of Kotoka International Airport.


He mentioned the extension of the runway by 416m at a cost of US$20.18million to allow for direct non-stop long haul flights from Accra to increase parking capacity for cargo aircrafts and boost the export of non-traditional and high value products among others as some of the measures to improve air transport..