By Emmanuel Gamson
Takoradi, March 21, GNA – Mr Joseph Nelson, the Western Regional Minister, has assured workers of the Ghana Railway Company Limited (GRCL) of an action plan from the government, to revive and reposition the company for operational efficiency.
He told management and staff of the company that their current struggle to operate all their fleets and control their routes because of various challenges, would be fixed.
He said: “What you need now is action, and action is on its way to fix all your problems to revive the railway sector.”
Mr Nelson gave the assurance when he addressed the management and staff of the Ghana Railway Company Limited at its head office in Takoradi, in the Western Region.
The Minister stated that bringing back the country’s rail transport sector would be a game changer in terms of economic and commercial activities in Sekondi-Takoradi and the country in general.
He said the government would implement pragmatic policies and programmes through the “Big Push Programme” to reposition the railway sector transport to help facilitate trade and commercial activities.
Mr Nelson said: “The railway sector as it stands now, will require enormous investment and this obviously will be tackled in the “Big Push” agenda of government.”
He continued: “Instead of spending time talking about the challenges facing the company, what remains crucial is the determination to reposition the company to immediately kick start operations.”
Dr Michael Adjei Anyetei, the Managing Director of Ghana Railway Company Limited, stated that poor infrastructure along the company’s operational zones had been a major challenge to them.
He said: “From Awaso to Takoradi, we stopped working due to bad infrastructure along our operational zones because our tracks became so bad that, we had to stop using them.
“We could not continue to be running at a lost because of these issues.”
Dr Anyetei on staff welfare issues said their salaries had been in arrears for the more than six months.
He, therefore, appealed to the Western Regional Minister to assist them in resolving outstanding salary issues to help ease the financial burden on them.
GNA
JP /GRB