Transport minister tours agencies

THE Minister of Transport, Mr Mike Hammah last Friday toured some agencies under the ministry and charged them to implement strategies to curb the rate of accidents on the roads since the situation can be a disincentive to investment.
Mr Hammah, who was accompanied by his deputy, Mrs Dzifa Ativor and some directors of the ministry, reiterated government’s efforts of achieving middle income status by the year 2020.
The tour took the Minister and his entourage to the offices of the National Road Safety Commission, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), ?????State Transport Corporation (STC)??? and Metro Mass Transit (MMT) all in Accra.
Mr Hammah said that government was poised to attract a lot of investments into the country to be able to achieve its growth rate of above 10 per cent of GDP, and added that “the transport sector has a pivotal role to play in this growth agenda of the government.”
The minister promised to build up the capacity of all the players in the transport sector to improve on their service delivery capacity.
He underscored the need to strengthen the capacity of the DVLA to be able to test drivers and their vehicles to ensure that there were competent drivers and good vehicles plying the roads.
The minister again said that, the National Road Safety Commission must be well- resourced to carry out its task of formulating suitable policies for the road sector.
The Minister assured the agencies of his commitment to providing the appropriate institutional framework to make them function effectively in their respective places. “One of the first things that we need as a government is to put in place the right structures and I can promise that we will stop at nothing to achieve these objectives.
He further emphasised that the recent carnage on the roads were a disincentive to investment and called on the various agencies to formulate strategies to curb the situation.
It was request galore when the heads of the various agencies took their turn to interact with the minister and his entourage as if they have been expecting him since Adam.
At STC which has been in operation since 1909 and is celebrating 100 years of existence, the Managing Director, Mr Kwame Adjei-Seffah said the company had over the years been battling with loan repayment from banks, hence the company’s inability to declare profit and make other investments.
Mr Adjei-Seffah therefore appealed to the sector minister for recapitalisation to revamp the company since they had to compete with the increasing number of private transport companies in the country.
“Mr Minister, I want to appeal to the government to help us by any means possible to get at least 100 buses and 50 trucks and I can promise that if this is done we will make STC the best in Africa.”
He explained that the company at present could only boast of 30 buses, most of which regularly break down after every journey, and not even a single truck to operate with.
When the minister arrived at the Metro Mass outfit, The Managing Director, Mr Henk Visschers informed the minister that the crisis that rocked the company in 2007 had affected its operations drastically in the subsequent years .
“Though the challenges were not completely over, we have put in place the right management structures to be able to contain the situation,” he stressed.
Mr Henk appealed to the government for subsidy to be able to compete with the other transport companies in the country, “Mr Minister, MMT at any point in time has the lowest fare in the country, this we do to help the less -privileged ,” he emphasised.
The MD again appealed to the minister to help them contain the perennial flooding of the area.
The Executive Director of the National Road Safety Commission, Mr Noble John Appiah in a power point presentation, told the minister that in spite of the numerous achievements of the commission, a number of constrains continued to hamper the activities of the commission.
Mr Appiah mentioned the lack of collaboration and co-ordination between stakeholders and over dependence on donor support for implementation of road programmes and projects.
He therefore appealed for the minister’s intervention to address these weaknesses to ensure that road safety efforts and positive impacts and achievements were sustained in the country.
The acting Director of the DVLA Mr Justice Amegashie informed the minister of numerous initiatives of the DVLA to maintain good and competent drivers for the safety of passengers.
Mr Amegashie stated that the DVLA was developing an interface with other stakeholders in the industry to make their services accessible to the people within the shortest time possible.
The deputy minister, Mr Dzifa Ativor told the Daily Graphic after the tour that the visit afforded them the opportunity to have first hand information on the various situations at the agencies. “We will study the situation and at the appropriate time respond to their request,” she stated.
She explained further that this was the first in a series of interactions with the agencies, and that they would in the next few days invite the heads of the agencies to have a holistic discussion having in mind the government's agenda for the sector.