Sebastian Freiku
5 June 2009
Kumasi — THE IMPLEMENTATION of the US$95 million Urban Transport project, co-sponsored by the World Bank, Global Environmental Facility Trust Fund (GEF), Agence Française de Development (AFD) and the Government of Ghana, to improve upon urban mobility in Ghana, is under threat.
The project, launched in September 2007 for implementation over a five year period, and expected to promote a shift to a more environmentally-friendly mode of transport, by lowering carbon monoxide emissions from vehicles along the pilot BRT passage ways in Accra and Kumasi, seems to have suffered a setback.
The project, which intends to introduce a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system that delivers fast, comfortable, reliable, safe and cost effective urban mobility, which system is being piloted in Accra, while option studies are being done in Kumasi for implementation.
In the Ashanti Region, the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) and the Ejisu-Juaben Municipal Assembly (EJMA) have passed bye-laws for the BRT, and that registration of routes by the various transport unions, would be completed by September this year for the implementation of the BRT system.
But, the Ashanti Regional branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has rejected the project in its entirety, and said no to its implementation in Kumasi, where the project is doing option studies for implementation.
According to the union, the project was a non-starter, and cannot be used to address the myriad of congestion problems on the roads.
The union, per its Principal Industrial Relations Officer, Mr. Issah Musah Khaleepha, told a press conference in Kumasi yesterday, under the chairmanship of the union's regional chairman, Nana Yaw Owusu, that the union was critical of the project because the problems on our roads have to do with the spate of rural-urban drift, poor city planning, haphazard and disorderly placements of make-shifts shops, encroachment and development on road reserves by private developers in the full glare of the city authorities, and the lack of political will to decongest and move hawkers and traders from the streets and pavements.
Mr. Issah Khaleepha also mentioned the lack of parking lots , and lack of improvement and extension of road networks in the metropolis , neglect of suburban link roads and inadequate terminals and taxi ranks.
According to Mr. Khaleepha, there would not be any need for the BRT, if these problems which impede vehicle mobility resulting in long commuting times, are addressed.
The union indicated that it had been informed by the Urban Roads Department of the Ministry of Transportation, and the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), that effective July this year, all taxis and intra-city buses (tro-tro) would be required to apply for a renewable Route Operational Permit from the KMA, as the regulatory body, per an Urban Passenger Transport Unit.
Under the project, vehicles would be required to apply to operate a specific route, and that vehicles which strayed into other routes it had not applied for, would be sanctioned.
But, the GPRTU says it has a problem with the issuance and the requirement of a permit, and the very objective of the project, that of addressing and managing traffic congestions in the metropolis, and thus improve bus mobility.
"If the traffic congestion and spatial problems are to be addressed and managed effectively, then the causes of the problems must be ascertained, analyzed and tackled holistically, because the current approach cannot address and manage the incidence of traffic congestion.
The union saw the move as an attempt to kill the private transport industry, which must not be toyed with, because the transport sector was indispensable.
The union has since petitioned President John Evans Atta Mills against the implementation of the project, particularly in Kumasi, through the Ashanti Regional Minister.
It as well raised concerns about the inconsistency about the New Tafo Market project, which had affected the bus terminal.
It said it was convinced that the project was being given out to some people to construct under a Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangement for the construction of 2,520 shops, and said since the Union was currently occupying the terminal, it was entitled to be given the first option to develop it, under the said BOT arrangement.
The redevelopment of the four-phase New Tafo (Krofofrom) Market project in Kumasi, coming as a Jubilee project, has been awarded to eight contractors since October last year.
Mr. Khaleepha also criticised the mode of loading at the Kejetia Bus Terminal, saying the alternate serving of vehicles was against the law of equity and social justice, and urged the management of the facility to adopt an equitable mode of "first come, first serve."
The Union has also criticised the operations of the Metro Mass Transit buses, saying the MMT had abandoned its avowed purpose of commuting workers to and from workplaces, to curtail man-hour losses and enhance productivity, and was plying long distance routes to the detriment of the private sector.
According to the union, the there was an over-concentration of the buses on certain routes, thus depriving them of their fair share of the benefits of the operations of the transport industry.
The union has therefore called on the government to cause the MMT to revert to their avowed objective, and not deprive the private sector of their fair share of work.
It also appealed to the government to evolve and establish a National Transport Policy to remedy the malaise and strangulation, and the modes of operation, particularly the air, rail and sea transport systems.
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