ZOIL COLLABORATES WITH GOV`T TO CURB DISASTERS ON VOLTA LAKE-as Volta Lake Transport Enhancement project begins
In a bid to curb the spate of disasters on the Volta Lake, as well as improving safe travelling conditions on inland waterways, Zoil Services Limited, a subsidiary of Zoomlion Waste Management Company is collaborating with the government and other agencies to commence the Volta Transport Enhancement Project.
The project, which is under the theme - “Promoting Safe Travel on the Volta Lake” will involve the provision of about 10,000 life jackets for boat operators and users. The project will also involve the recruitment and training of 2,000 people to equip them with the capacity to monitor and ensure that users of the lake adopt safe practices in their activities.
Launching the project at Tapa Abotoase in the Biakoye District of the Volta Region on Wednesday, the Public Relations Officer of Zoomlion, Mr. Oscar Provencial in a speech read on behalf of the Zoil Manager, Mr. Opoku Manu, announced that there would be the procurement of speed boats for patrolling the lake while disaster response/rescue teams equipped with communication and other disaster management logistics would be established at vantage points along the lake.
According to Mr. Manu, “Through the implementation of this project, it is the firm belief that a lasting and effective solution will be found to reduce the perennial occurrence of accidents on the Volta Lake”. He however observed that the mechanisms and structures which would ensure safe practices, constant patrolling of the lake, and supervision and regulation of transport activities on the lake seem inadequate or nonexistent.
These malpractices have often led to the occurrence of disasters. For instance, the latest accident at Wusuta, in the Kpando District of the Volta Region, where 20 people, mostly women and children, lost their lives, he emphasized.
Indeed, the Volta Lake was created in 1965, borders five regions of Ghana namely, Volta, Eastern, Western, Ashanti and Central, representing one-third the size of the country.The lake has a total shore-line of 4,800Km and connects over 739 towns and villages along its basin.
The Deputy Minister of Transport, Mrs. Dzifa Aku Attivor, who performed the launch on behalf of the sector Minister, Mr. Mike Hammah, noted that since the year 2006 the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA), together with other agencies, notably the Volta Lake Transport Company have intensified efforts at implementing a number of lake safety measures, most of which are ongoing and captured as part of the total lake safety action programme of the ministry.
The GMA has in collaboration with the Ghana Navy put in place Naval Detachment as Naval Task Force (NTFs) at six major lake stations; namely Yeji, Dzemeni, Kpando, Torkor, Tapa Abotoase, Dambai and Kete-Krachi to enforce safety measures including overloading, drunkenness, use of defective boats and other human abuses, among others, she added.
Mrs. Attivor was quick to underscore that the Authority's Marine Surveyors and inspectors on regular basis survey and inspect the boats, especially new entrants to mark and assign them with load lines, whilst defective ones were banned from operation. The Authority also has an arrangement with the Regional Maritime University to provide skills and competency training for boat operators and mechanics at the six major centres.
To this end, 872 operators and mechanics have been trained and awaiting certification and licensing. Furthermore, the GMA in collaboration with Ministry of Transport organizes several regular educational campaigns in communities along the lake catchments areas and produced brochures on inland water safety code in English, Twi and Ewe for free distribution.
She announced that “The Ministry is setting up a fund to embark on, and implement an enhancement programme with the view to ensuring safe and secure transportation on the Volta Lake and wish to request the District Assemblies along the lake and other stakeholders also to contribute into the fund.”
The programme, Mrs. Attivor mentioned, included the training of the youth along the lake to serve as life guards at various landing stations and also to provide search and rescue services, intensify education of both operators and passengers that patronize the lake services, and assist the boat owners to acquire modern and safer boats.
The Minister commended Zoil for supporting the government in its determination to make life more meaningful for the Volta Lake communities, saying “We wholeheartedly welcome such initiative as we consider it as a positive response to our efforts at the creation of a just fair and egalitarian society”.
The Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Nii Nortey Duah indicated that National Youth Employment Programme was collaborating with Zoil and its partners to ensuring that the project succeeds. He emphasized that it was part of government commitment of providing safer transport of goods and services along the Volta Lake.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Biakoye thanked the government and Zoil for undertaking project, which would further reduce or curb the rampant rate of disasters on the lake.
Most people in the area who spoke to the paper commended Zoil and the government for implementing project, saying “We can now use the lake without fear”. Meanwhile, on behalf of Zoomlion Mr. Provencial used the occasion to present GH¢5,000 cash and 50 bags of rice to the victims of the recent Volta Lake disaster.