VLTC Sabotaged - TOR and Bost Accused

The conveyance of petroleum products from the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to the Northern Ghana by road is killing the business of the Volta Lake Transport Company, Mr. Osei Sarpong, the Managing Director of the Company, has said.

He said it did not make economic sense to abandon a pipeline constructed from TOR to the Akosombo Lakeside port to lift the products from where they were carried by vessels to Buipe and through other pipelines pumped to Bolgatanga. Mr. Sarpong expressed this concern when the Minister of Transport, Mr. Mike Hammah, visited the company on Wednesday.

Mr. Sarpong said the usage of the pipelines would reduce transport cost by 40 percent besides easing the pressure on the roads through the use of heavy tankers. He said that the excuse by Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST) that the pipes leaked was not tenable, adding that nothing had been done t o rectify the situation since 2009 when the pipes were abandoned.

He said, the company had made alternative proposal to both BOST and National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to bear the cost of transporting the fuel by road to Akosombo if they insisted that the use of the pipeline was not feasible.

He said though the company welcomed the government financial package of GH¢5,000,000 to bail it out of financial crisis, “we will rather want that, the government ensures that petroleum is delivered at our end point to be transported to the north.”

Mr. Sarpong said if that was done, the company would be viable and would not need such government interventions. Mr. Victor Amoah, Chairman of the Junior Staff Workers Union, expressed surprise that an NDC government would supervise the collapse of a project initiated by its own predecessor administration. He said VLTC never had financial problems until the conveyance of fuel products by lake transport was withdrawn.

He said workers’ morale had gone low because they felt sad to see a company which was self-sufficient and vibrant only a few years ago, collapse suddenly. “We don’t need any subvention; we need the petroleum products” he said to a loud applause from the workers. Mr. Hammah assured the workers that cabinet had acted on their concerns by directing that all petroleum products to the north should be conveyed via the Volta Lake.

He said together with the Ministry of Energy, his Ministry had since been working to ensure that t he directive was carried through. Mr. Hammah said it was because of the dire financial state of the company that government decided to support it with a budgetary allocation of GH¢500,000 annually, “but if you say you need the petroleum products to turn things around, when it comes make sure to start declaring dividends for the government.” He said the Ministry, through the World Bank, had acquired new engines for their vessels to improve transportation on the lake.

Mr. Hammah also said feasibility studies for a multimodal transport involving the construction of a rail line from Tema to Akosombo for containers to be transported to the north by barges were almost completed.

He assured the workers that t he company’s future prospects were bright and asked them to be committed to their work to be able to transform it.

Meanwhile, a 10 million dollar project by Millennium Development Authority for the rehabilitation of VLTC’s floating dock and building to two ferries is underway. The Project, expected to be completed to be completed in 2012, would augment the fleet of the VLTC and modernise repair works on the vessels.