GRC embarks on revenue generation- Board.

Takoradi, Feb.19 GNA- The Ghana Railway Company (GRC) has the capacity to generate additional revenue by providing expert service in the rehabilitation and repair of industrial machinery and equipment of many private and public concerns including the mining companies.

Already it had been undertaking such jobs for some mining companies but rather on a very small scale due to some constraints, to Mr. Kwame Owusu Adjei, chief mechanical engineer of the company said on Thursday. This was when some members of the new board of directors of GRC led by the chairman Mr. Joseph Sam Appiah inspected the various sections of the location workshop of the company in Takoradi on Wednesday as part of their nationwide inspection of facilities of the GRC.

Mr. Adjei, who took members around, said with assistance from the Japanese government, the GRC had modern and well-equipped laboratory for efficient oil and chemical analysis including metallurgy. He emphasized that, with little support, the location workshop could be commercialised to generate revenue apart from helping to provide efficient railway transportation in the country. This is so because most of the materials, including machines and equipment are imported, Mr. Adjei said, adding that the company has enough skilled manpower to manage all divisions of the location workshop.

It has enough mainline locomotives and would need additional shanty locomotives to ensure efficiency, he said. Mr. Adjei said the company has about seven types of locomotives and therefore acquiring spare parts for them had remained a headache and suggested that it was important to standardize on only one type of locomotive.

Presently, GRC has about 60 locomotives but only 29 are serviceable, and the rest could be repaired if spares were available.

The location workshop, which has a wide range of facilities, including machines and equipment, provide services such as grinding, iron casting, foundry and fabrication of machine parts among others.

Mr. Appiah gave the assurance that the new board and management of GRC would explore the possibility of commercialising the operations of the location workshop. He suggested to GRC management to embark on vigorous programme to advertise its workshop services to the public for patronage. Mr. Emmanuel Opoku, acting managing director of the company, Mr. Benjamin Amofa, chief civil engineer, and Awulae Agyefi Kwame chief of Nsein Traditional Area and other members of the board were among the entourage. 19 Feb 04