Cross border haulage drivers must know ECOWAS travel conventions-GRTCC

Aflao (V/R), Oct. 29, GNA- Mr Kojo Adom Moses, Chairman of the Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC) has said there was the need for cross border haulage drivers to be abreast with the ECOWAS conventions on Interstate Transport Procedures (IRST).

He noted that ignorance of the transport convention among the general public posed a hindrance to the ECOWAS protocols on trade facilitation and integration of the sub-region. Mr Moses, who is also the first Vice-President of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Transport Union said this when he addressed about 60 Cross- Border Haulage Truck Drivers and Assistants at Aflao on Friday as part of a programme to inform the public on the conventions. The education highlighted on specific travel documents, such as vaccination certificates, entry guarantees and insurance, which form part of mandatory procedures, and other specific entry demands at the borders in the sub-region.

Mr Moses said the convention on the IRST was to eliminate delays at the borders and the plethora of customs, police and immigration check points and reverse the poor performance in the sub regional road transport system, logrolling and loss making. He told the drivers that they could further enhance their performance by making road transport the choice in the movement of goods and people in the region through the provision of customer driven world-class transport system.

"Avoid tendencies of the diversion of goods and stick to the appropriate loading regulations," Mr Moses said. He said the GRTCC was working with other agencies on the introduction of demurrage for delays caused at both loading and off-loading points. Mr Samuel Tsitey, An HIV/AIDS Prevention Advocate and a member of the Aflao Branch of the sub-regional anti HIV/AIDS Agency, the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organisation (ALCO) briefed and advised the drivers on precautions to avoid the disease. Distributing condoms among them, he said they risked contracting the disease in unprotected sex and also in the course of their travels along the corridor.

Mr Tsitey also distributed an ALCO leaflet showing distances between towns in the sub region, times of closure and opening of borders to help them plan their journeys.