Dr. Thomas Mensah met with the leadership of the Ghana Institute of Engineers in Accra
Dr. Thomas Mensah met with the leadership of the Ghana Institute of
Engineers in Accra during his recent visit to Ghana on December 28th,
2017 at the Engineering Center Building.
The New President of Ghana Institute of Engineers; Ing Mrs Carlien D.
Bou - Chedid, a Structural and Civil Engineer and the leadership
discussed the Transportation Infrastructure in Ghana and how to
transform it. Dr. Thomas Mensah presented his High Speed Rail proposal
for Ghana, stressing the need to combine Freight with Passenger Rail
as has been done in Kenya, Ethiopia and Morocco.
The Institute leadership agreed with Dr. Mensah about how this can
transform Ghana and its beneficial impact on the Ghana's Economy in
creating jobs for the Youth and its Citizens. It was agreed that the
current attempt by the Ghana Railway Development Authority/Ministry of
Railways to rehabilitate existing antiquated Rail lines is too costly
and will take a long time. ($22 Billion versus $3 Billion as has been
done in Kenya,). It was recommended that the Ghana Railway Development
Authority/Ministry of Railways should focus on a Phase One Plan
similar to the one used by Kenya with the Chinese Developers.
Dr. Mensah showed a video which indicated details of the Kenya Model
for High Speed Rail Development and agreed that this will be the
fastest and less costly way of building the Ghana High Speed Rail Line
instead the Costly model of Rehabilitation the Legacy antiquated lines
that may not be safe to operate. He also showed how the Kenya Model,
Chinese Engineers are seeing working side by side with Kenya Citizens
laying the Rail Tracks, Installing advanced Rail Control Centers
with wide screens and technicians directing the trains and rerouting
them etc.
This approach transfers technology to Kenya and create jobs for the
citizens including women who are driving the High Speed Trains in
Kenya. The trains are helping move one million Containers as Freight
to the port of Mombasa increasing Port Efficiency. Other Countries
including Ethiopia have developed high speed rail that run on
electricity unlike the Kenya model that are locomotives still using
SGR system.
Dr. Mensah will recommend that the Kenya Model be used as
Phase I for Ghana High Speed Rail System Development since it does not
on electricity to drive the trains . The train travels at 120 KM/Hour
for passengers and 86 Km/Hour which means Ghana Electricity needs will
not be affected. The Ethiopian trains run on Electricity. The Chinese
built both systems. Morocco has built one using France as Developers
which also runs on Electricity.
Dr. Mensah in his recent meeting with His Excellency; Nana Akuffo
Addo, the President of of the Republic of Ghana at the Flagstaff House
showed an article indicting the benefit of Job Creation in Morocco
following their High Speed Rail Development, with three Car
Manufacturers, Renault, Peugeot and BYD of China locating there to
manufacture cars for sales to Africa and Europe.
Ghana will benefit if it build its High Speed Rail since Dr. Mensah
says he can convince other car manufacturers in the US and Europe ,
like General Motors,, Ford, Tesla and Mercedes to locate their
factories in Ghana. This will accelerate the One Factory –One District
program for His Excellency and NPP.
Dr. Mensah also discussed the New Airport Maintenance Facility to be
built in Kumasi Ghana where aircraft from all west African countries
will come to be maintained. These Aircraft now have to fly to South
Africa, Ethiopia and Amsterdam for Maintenance, Wasting fuel on such
long distance flights impacting sustainability. This Maintenance
Facility will also improve Aviation Safety in West Africa.
Finally Dr. Mensah discussed the set up of the Silicon Valley of GHANA
with 4 centers of Innovation at the University of Ghana Legon in
Accra, University of Cape Coast, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science
and Technology and the University for Development Studies; Tamale.
The website is www.Siliconvalleygh.com
These proposals were received by the Ghana Institute of Engineers
which indicated that it will organize a Forum on Transportation
Infrastructure in the coming months.
Among the reasons for working with the Ghana Institute of Engineers are;
1 . R.P Baffuor is among its past Presidents and Dr Mensah just gave
the 10th R.P. Baffuor Lecture at KNUST recently after which he was
given the Honorary Doctorate, D.Sc Honoraris Causa,
2 . Most engineers in the country are members or Fellows of the
Institute including; the Senior Minister; Hon. Yaw Osafo Marfo who is
a Fellow of the Institute.
