Joe Ghartey
The Minister for Railway Development, Joe Ghartey has asserted that the commissioning of the a 15 kilometre rail line from Sekondi to Kojokrom to Takoradi in 2016 by former President John Mahama few days to the 2016 general election, was nothing more than a political point scoring game.
He indicated that the Mahama-led government awarded a contract to Messers Amandi Holdings to construct the rail line which was commissioned with much fanfare in the last quarter of 2016.
According to the minister, it was not until August 2017, that the line was finally made operational, indicating that the December 2016 commissioning was nothing but to score political point.
“The jury is still out on that line since the service which runs twice a day is still very much under-patronized by the residents of the twin-city of Sekondi-Takoradi.”
The Minister disclosed this when the Ministry of Railway Development and the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Railway Training School at Essikado yesterday.
The MoU will lead to UMaT developing railway programmes to the tertiary level for which it will award a degree.
The initiative would also eventually lead to the establishment of a University of Railway and Infrastructural Development at the Railway Training School located at Essikado in the Sedkondi-Takoradi Metropolis of the Western Region.
The Minister for Railway Development, Joe Ghartey signed on behalf of the Ministry while the Vice Chancellor of UMaT, Prof Jerry Kumah also signed on behalf of the University.
Beginning the 2018/2019 academic year, the railway programmes that would be ran at the University include BSc Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Environmental and Safety Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering as well as Geomatic Engineering.
The rest are MSc Engineering Management, Business and Technology Management, Certificate in Innovative Service Management, Entrepreneurship and SME Finance, Project Management, Strategic Human Resource Management and Certificate in Small Scale Mining and Quarry Administration.
Other Programmes would also include Certificate in Railway Engineering (Plant and Maintenance option), Certificate in Railway Engineering (Welding and Fabrication option) and certificate in Railway Engineering (Electrical option).
From Emmanuel Opoku, Essikado