Story: Moses Doe Aklorbortu, Takoradi
The congestions created in the metropolis and the frequent breakdowns, coupled with accidents and overturning of haulage trucks on highways, could be avoided if the produce buying companies decide to make use of the Ghana Railways Corporation.
Even though that would result in multiple handling of the produce it is still cheaper, safer and would bring sanity on the roads in the Western Region and ease the congestion at the cargo destination.
With this, most of the haulage trucks would not have to make the journey from the various cocoa producing areas in the region to the city centre and wait for months for their turn to off-load their cocoa beans for onward shipment.
This is because the warehouse facilities within the metropolis are woefully inadequate.
It is a fact that times have changed and there has been a geographical shift of cocoa growing areas in the region. There has been a shift to other areas where there were no rail lines to transport them to the port, therefore the best thing to do while the railways are waiting for investors to expand its lines is to engage the truckers to do the primary evacuation to where the lines are.
But information available to the Daily Graphic indicates that the initial arrangement with various produce buyers was to allow the haulage trucks to cart these beans to Mansu, where the train could move them to the port.
This is because, during the design of the port, rail lines were incorporated into it where a train loaded with cocoa, timber and other exportable commodities moved straight to the port to offload its cargo.
But those in the haulage industry protested that move and said the railways would take their jobs from them, therefore a quota was given to the Ghana Railways Corporation, and after the collection of that quantity that was the end.
After collecting the given quota,the rest must be done by the haulage trucks, creating numerous social problems.
At the moment it is a fact that the railways is in serious crisis, but this reporter was reliably informed that with cocoa, the company can collect more than the quota given.
If they use the train it would ease the congestion in the city, and the inner and outer perimeters of the port.
The irony of the situation is that the trucks loaded with the cocoa do not have a place to offload their cargos therefore for months the trucks are parked on the shoulders of the roads.
The question is that if we are serious as a country to help the already collapsing railways back on its feet, why should it be given a quota to carry certain quantity at a time and the remaining to be carried by other haulage trucks, making the highways very unsafe.
That aside, the frequent usage of the haulage trucks, mostly overloaded, results in the shorter lifespan of the roads.
Those problems aside, some of the truck drivers have become the customers of our sisters in the old trade, prostitution.
The act of these young ladies from other countries and some local ones offering themselves for a fee to these truckers take place on pre-fabricated beds under their trucks.
The truckers also do not have facilities such as resting place or where to attend to nature’s call. Therefore, they defaecate all over, and everywhere under the cover of darkness.
Available information indicate that Ghana railways requested for access to carry more and they were told that they did not have the capacity to support their claim.
Realising the potential in that area, the company took the risk to invest in more facilities that would enable them to evacuate more to the port but they were later denied. Therefore, all those investments ended up not yielding any positive results.
Not long ago, it was reported that the company owed Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) more than $12,000 in workers social security and penalty.
Therefore, if there are avenues for them to bring the national asset back to its former state, why are they not given the chance to compete favourably rather than be given a quota?
We must not forget that in the early days of the country, Ghana Railways Corporation was the backbone of the country’s economy and gave birth to numerous branches such as the Ghana Water Company, and Electricity Company of Ghana.
Congestion at all street corners in the Shama Ahanta East Metropolitan Assembly, according to sources, was a perennial issue of which those in charge were not ready to find solutions.
Many accidents on the road could be largely attributed to the frequent use of articulated trucks to cart cocoa, timber and others to the port.
Not long ago, about 98 children nearly lost their lives when the bus on which they were travelling was crossed by an articulated truck.
The sad aspect to the behaviour of these truckers is that they do not care about other road users, sometimes their trucks develope faults and they just leave them unattended to for many hours,and without enough signals to warn other road users.
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