Transport Minister Pays Working Visit

The Minister for Transport, Mr Mike Hammah last Friday, paid a working visit to some agencies under his Ministry in Accra to familiarise himself with operations of the agencies.

The agencies are, National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), Drivers and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Inter City Transport Corporation and Metro Mass Transport (MMT).

Addressing staff and management of the places visited, Mr Mike Hammah said it is important he goes round to have first hand information and share the vision and the mission of the President to collectively move the country forward.

He said Government is committed in ensuring that Ghana achieves a middle income status by the year 2020 and that the transport sector is one of the key areas that can help Government achieve that vision.

The Minister said Government believes in social democracy where more people are placed in the centre of affairs for development of the country, adding that, it is important to ensure that an enabling environment is created so the people can move freely to conduct their legitimate businesses.

According to Mr Hammah, there is the political will to move things in the right direction, saying Government attaches importance to transport and road issues and will continue to improve and provide the necessary resources for safe, efficient and reliable transport sector in the country.

He appealed to the Insurance companies to be proactive by contributing their quota and increase the level of funds, emphasing that it is a collective responsibility.

At the NRSC, Mr Noble Appiah, Chief Executive Officer of the NRSC, made a presentation on global issues on road safety and observed that Africa is not doing much.

He said the NRSC, is determined in ensuring that road safety in the country becomes the best like Sweden, that he said has the world's best road safety record of zero tolerance for road accidents.

On his part, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the DVLA, Mr Justice Amegashie, said his outfit is in the process of computerising the place so that service delivery can be improved.

 He explained that with the computerised system, officials of the DVLA, can access information from the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service for authentication of document without going to their office.

Mr. Adjei Seffah, Managing Director of Inter City STC, appealed to the Government to fund the company and also provide them with enough buses in order to make the company vibrant and meet the current growing demand of their services.

According to the Managing Director of the Metro Mass Transport (MMT), Mr Henk Visschers, the management of MMT, are putting in place computerised system that will check and monitor the behaviour of the drivers in order to reduce indiscipline on the roads.

The Managing Director observed that public transport is about reliability and ought to be seen doing so. He appealed to the Government for subsidy so that they can maintain the buses since their fares are cheaper than other competitors.