The reconstituted board of the Inter City State Transport Company (STC) was on Tuesday asked to bring innovations that would bring the company back to its former glory.
Mrs Dzifa Attivor, Minister of Transport who made the appeal, recalled instances where the STC used to be the flagship of road passenger transport in the country with its enviable safety record which served as the standard for other transport operators.
“It is sad that the once vibrant company which currently has only few operational buses has lost a chunk of its market share to the private sector despite efforts by the previous boards and management to do better,” she added.
Speaking during the swearing in of the newly reconstituted boards for the STC and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) respectively, Mrs Attivor charged the new board to come out with measures to acquire new buses for the company, in addition to improving its infrastructure and human capital.
The minister swore-in eleven members for the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority and seven members for the STC.
She also appealed to the Board to adopt modern technology to improve upon its revenue generation, reduce associated revenue leakages and also revamp its workshops country-wide in order to give the company a new of life.
Mrs Attivor appealed to the Board of the GPHA to source funding to complete the expansion programmes of the two ports (Tema and Takoradi), especially in the bid to decongest them and also provide the needed infrastructure to cater for the increase in volume of businesses.
“It is expected that the Board will come out with very innovative measures to provide the requisite facilities and environment to deal with the needs of the oil and gas industry,” she stated.
She said the Tema Port had over the years seen a lot of expansion in its service provision activities together with expansion of infrastructure and equipment.
She said the Tema port catered for a larger chunk of the country’s import together with handling the transit for goods for neighbouring countries which had resulted in its congestion.
The Minister noted that the oil find in the Western Region had also put a lot of pressure on some of the facilities at the Takoradi port which had not seen any upgrade since their initial construction and installation.
“In order to meet the challenges of the port (Takoradi), the GHPA has sourced funding and is currently undertaking some major expansion works at the port to increase its capacity,” she added.
Mrs Attivor called for the positioning of the transport sector in terms of infrastructure and service provision to serve as a magnetic force for sustained economic development as transport was the pivot of all development.
She charged the new board members to make themselves available for seminars and workshops organised by the State Enterprises Commission on institutional governance which spelt out the roles of Boards and Management.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, Chairman of the GPHA Board, expressed his readiness to fully support the management of the Authority to accomplish its plans and programmes.
“Notably would be the 197 million Euros upgrade and Expansion Works at the Takoradi Port which commenced in 2012 and is expected to end in 2016”, he added.
He also pledged to support the construction of the US$450,000 truck village at Ashaiman which would serve as a safe and secured central park for haulage trucks.
Mr Patrick Vanderpuye, Chairman of the STC Board pledged the readiness of the Board to work to revamp the ailing transport company.
The board members for GPHA has Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo as Chairman with Mrs Matilda Langlah, Mr Twumasi Selby, Dr Kofi Mbeah, Mr Gerorge Ato-Botchwey and Mr Seth Adjei-Baah as members.
The rest are Mr Richard Anamoo, Capt. James Owusu-Koranteng, Mr Jacob Kwabla Adorkor, Mr George Quarshie and Mr Adams Ayarna.
Those who constituted the STC board were Mr Patrick Vanderpuye, the Chairman, while the members include Mr Danny Nyantakyi, Ms Martha Awudu, Mr Sampson Gyamera, Lawrence Kumi and Mr Sampson Nortey.