General News of Thursday, 11 January 2018
Source: 3gmediaonline.com
2018-01-11
Dr. Thomas Mensah presenting a plaque to President Akufo-Addo
The famous inventor of fibre optics; Dr. Thomas Mensah paid a courtesy visit to the President of Ghana; His Excellency Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo during his visit to Ghana to discuss infrastructure modernization plans that can move Ghana into to 21st century.
He wanted to brief the President on his meetings with the various sector ministers as requested by the President during his New York meeting after the exceptional speech of the President at the United Nations.
Dr. Mensah informed the President that the Minister of Railways and his Deputy must focus on building a high-speed rail from the south of the country, Accra, Takoradi through Kumasi to Tamale near the northern border using an approach similar to the one used by Kenya that moves freight and people.
This model will provide a high-speed rail at the cost of $2.8 Billion instead of the $22 billion needed to rehabilitate existing antiquated legacy rail system. The system can be built in 3 years by the Chinese.
This system is in line with the President’s goal of moving freight to the landlocked countries such as Burkina Faso. These countries can help pay for this rail line to move their containers from Tema to their countries as well as help passenger travel in Ghana. The cost to passengers on the new rail line is 50% of the current cost by bus travel. The other model used by Ethiopia run on electricity is equally good.
Morrocco has already attracted three car manufacturing companies; Renault, Peugeot and BYD of China after building their high-speed rail. Ghana can benefit from attracting auto manufacturers in the US and Germany to locate in Ghana and accelerate its One District, One Factory strategy to provide employment to the youth and other citizens of Ghana.
Dr. Mensah also discussed the Aviation Maintenance Facility to be located in Kumasi. This Facility will service planes from the Entire ECOWAS region instead of planes travelling to South Africa, Amsterdam and Ethiopia and fits the Sustainable Goals of the President.