Give us contracts; we're capable of designing, building solid canoes - Ghanaian Naval Architect

A Graduate Assistant at the Regional Maritime University, Goerge Obeng, has called on government and all stakeholders within the maritime industry to award contracts to local engineers.

He stated that Ghanaian naval architects, mariners, and others have the skill to deliver excellent services just like the human resources imported into the country to work on projects like the; construction of boats, canoes, and yachts.

Mr Obeng said his team was targeting some ministries including the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to help in the fight against galamsey, as well as, save lives in the coastal areas by providing boats for them to patrol on waterbodies in galamsey prone areas.

He told the host of BizTech on GhanaWeb TV, Ernestina Serwaa Asante that, "We are appealing to the stakeholders who are involved that we are capable of doing it here in Ghana. We don't need to outsource these things."

George Obeng also entreated Members of Parliament to engage them to train fisherfolk on how to design and build fibre canoes to aid their work.

"The fishermen and those people around they can bring them, the MPs around those coastal areas and even inland, they can bring their people for us to train them," he said.

It would be recalled that in July last, government, through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources procured five speed boats to help in the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.

The speed boats managed by the Ghana Naval Command and River Guards, will constantly patrol the banks of the river bodies at illegal mining sites.

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SA/NOQ