Yaw Obeng Manu, editor of the Ghanaian Publisher Newspaper, has stated that monies invested into the railway sector would have yielded immense results had the ministry focused on developing intracity rail lines.
According to him, the investment into intercity rail lines has cost the government a lot of money, and slowed down its railway development agenda, especially at a time where cost of road transport has skyrocketed.
To him, rail lines would’ve been the best alternative for intercity transport in this era of high cost of fuel and road transport, leading Ghanaians to appreciate the investment made into the rail sector.
“Doing the cost benefit analysis of all newly created sectors under the ruling government, a lot of money has been invested into the Railway Ministry and we ask what has been their vision? For me, I think instead of having focused on developing railway systems along long distances and connecting cities, we should have focused on Intra city development which would’ve yielded a lot of benefits,” he shared in the Editors’ Take Edition of the Happy Morning Show.
He described the Ministry of Railway as having done some impressive work over the period, and believes such a ministry should be kept operational even if the government decides to reduce its ministries.
The Ministry of Railway Development of Ghana was created with the core responsible to ensure and increase infrastructural growth and service delivery in Ghana’s transport sector to help ease pressure on the other means of transport.
The ministry is also tasked with the responsibility of ensuring quality, effective and a more secure means of traveling and transporting goods and services within Ghana and the neighboring countries.
Under the Akufo-Addo administration, a lot of Railway infrastructure projects have been started, mainly focusing on long distance railways to connect cities, and primarily ease and reduce transportation cost of food items from and to all parts of Ghana.
By; Joel Sanco