Minister for Transport Hon. Joseph Bukari Nikpe has revealed that there is concerted effort by the Ministry to procure new vessels to enhance the Inland Water transport system in the country.
Minister for Transport Hon. Joseph Bukari Nikpe
Addressing the media at the Government Accountability Series in Accra on Wednesday, the Minister explained that vessels to be procured are part of a broader efforts to have a multi-modal transport system to drive economic growth.
“With the Volta lake transport, we are in serious engagement with partners to deliver some vessels to us”, Hon. Nikpe revealed.
He said government’s focus is on the Tema rail to Mpakadan where as the Inland Water will take from Mpakadan to Buipe “so that we can have that kind of multi-modal transport system taking our cargo and fleet from our ports to the Northern part of the country”, the Minister emphasized.
The Saboba Member of Parliament who said the Ministry intends to drive tourism through in land water transport revealed that his office has received several proposal from Investors whom he said are ready to make that dream a reality.
In that regard, the Minister encouraged local companies to also express interest “because this will be sustained when we ourselves are interested in using the coastal transport”.
It is the believe of the Minister that the inland water transport system will minimize the huge traffic on the coastal trunk roads whilst enabling free flow of water ways transport.
The Minister who assured Ghanaians of safety in the Inland water transport system later itemized some strides made within this eight months in office including formation of 10- member Committee to over see the operationalization of a National carrier, conversion of Terminal 2 into a dual purpose Terminal and Construction of a new state of the art Aviation tower.
Others are construction of Bolgatanga airport and construction of multi purpose hajj village at Kotoka International Airport (KIA) with facilities such as mosque residential accommodation, clinic and hajj board offices.
Source:www.senaradioonline.com /The Exposé
