THE DEPUTY Minister-designate for Railway Development, Kwaku Asante Boateng, has stated that rail transport reduces the cost of living and opens new housing markets to workers within non-urban areas.
For him, it will be prudent to have all the country’s rail lines connected to the major cities and business _ hubs to ease highway congestion and cut travel times.
Answering questions before the Appointments Committee of Parliament, Mr Boateng said commuting hours between Suhum and Accra, for instance, could be reduced drastically with, train transport and save workers hours spent in traffic, to boost productivity.
“As a developing nation, we are a little bit and capped financially. Enough: funds are needed to back the development plan of our railway system,” he said.
“When you look at the master plan that we have, it is attempting to link all regional capitals and other cities of importance, not forgetting the mining communities. So it is a very good concept and I think all of us must try as much as possible to help the process of developing our rail sector,” he said.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu; had suggested that a high-speed rail System could benefit t country and push economic growth.
Mr Boateng, however, said one of the problems facing the sector is business activities and developments around the railway lines.
“According to him, there is a lot of encroachment “on the right of way” acquiréd by the government to develop the rail lines, pointing out that “it is a key and underpinning factor of our transformation process.”
“Sometimes I get worried. People behave and do things without recourse to the laws. When you go to Kumasi and other areas, people have built in such a way that a train cannot pass without touching their buildings,” he said, adding “I think it’s a sickness we need to cure ourselves as individuals for the nation to see progress.”
On the issue of compensation, he said the government would pay the appropriate compensation to landowners affected by the rail projects by the law, assuring that he would impress on the minister for this to be done if approved.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House