Ghana to be transport hub of West Africa - Dzifa Attivor

The Minister of Transport, Madam Dzifa Aku Ativor, has been upbeat of her ministry’s feat of rising Ghana to a sub-Regional Transport hub.

She vows that her sector is striving hard “To create an integrated, modally complementary, cost-effective, safe, secure, sustainable and seamless transportation system responsive to the needs of society, supporting growth and poverty reduction and capable of establishing Ghana as a transport hub of West Africa”

Madam Dzifa Attivor expressed this satisfaction in an interview published in the current issue of the Africawatch magazine, explaining the vision of the Government of Ghana in the sector under review.

“Overall, the vision contains seven policy objectives. These are: 

1.  establish Ghana as a transportation hub for the West Africa sub-region
2.  create and sustain an efficient transport system that meets user needs
3. integrated land use, transport planning, development planning, and service provision and
 
4.  create a vibrant investment and performance-based management environment that maximizes benefits for public and private sector investors,” the Transport Minister told the Africawatch as she throws light on the government’s dream of transforming its transport sector in order to become the safe gateway to the African market.

According to Madam Attivor, government also intends among other things, to develop and implement comprehensive and integrated policy, governance, and institutional frameworks; so as to ensure a more sustainable development in the transport sector, and develop adequate human resources and apply new technology.

She added that, “government is providing an integrated network in the country that makes passenger travel, as well as, freight transport efficient, cost effective, affordable and, perhaps most important, safe and secure”.

Sounding very optimistic of Ghana becoming the transportation hub in the West Africa sub-region, Madam Attivor stated that with the systems as chronicled above, it will bolster Ghana’s reputation in becoming an important gateway to Africa.

In the Aviation sub-sector, Madam Dzifa Attivor, gave the assurance that the Mahama administration will not commit mistakes of the past with regards to the collapse of Ghana Airways, as plans are underway to establish a new national airline on a public-private partnership basis.

According to her, the country has learned a lot of lessons from why the previous two national airlines, Ghana Airways and Ghana International Airlines, failed.

"And I can assure you that our government will not commit the same mistakes," Ghana’s Transport Minister stated in her interview with the Africawatch.

Besides, the new airline, she said, there are plenty of expansion works going on in the aviation, railway and ports sub-sectors of the country’s transport sector, Madam Dzifa Aku Attivor revealed also.

The above immense transformation in the transport sector as expressed by its Minister, is in fulfillment of the President pledge in his State of the Nation Address that, “a reliable, efficient, cost-effective and modern transportation system is required to fast track (Ghana’s) transition from a lower-middle-income status.

To this end, we have over the last few years, been putting in place the building blocks for reaching this goal”.

With the improvement in the transportation sector, the Africawatch Magazine also reports that “Ghana is far ahead in terms of infrastructure than other lower middle-income African countries, but as the West African nation advances to middle-income status, the government is upgrading and expanding infrastructure, particularly in the transport sector, to meet current and future demands as well as to establish the country as a safe gateway to the African market”.