Dompoase road crash and matters arising

Last week, a fatal road crash occurred at the Dompoase Junction on the main Accra-Takoradi highway.

Sad to say the nation lost many among them, with some at the prime of their lives and bread winners of a lot of families.

How so unfortunate. May their souls rest in perfect peace.

To the injured, who are recuperating in hospital, l wish them speedy recovery .

Accident prone spot

From news reports, the location where the accident occurred is noted for numerous road accidents in the past.

What has our authorities done to avert other accidents at that spot ?

Now the entire nation is mourning those who died and whose dreams have been cut short by this nightmarish occurrence.

Given the history of the location as an accident-prone area, some re-engineering on the road layout ought to have been done to minimise or at best eliminate the incidents of accidents, but we sat back aloof only to be confronted with this tragedy.

Enter Minister

In the aftermath of the accident, the Minister of Roads and Highways, on a visit to the victims on admission at the hospital was reported to have promised the dualisation of the Accra/ Takoradi, Accra/ Kumasi highways as a means of reducing fatalities on those roads.

The minister spoke as if those highways would be dualised immediately. Truthfully, the dualisation of our major highways in the immediate future is simply an illusion and not possible in the next fifty years!

How long is it taking us to dualise the Accra/Kumasi highway? More than 20 years now and we are not even at Apedwa.

This is the busiest highway in Ghana and the second busiest highway in the entire ECOWAS sub-region coming only after the Lagos/Ibadan express way in Nigeria.

Have we been able to even maintain the single carriage way and talk about new ones ?

Exploring alternatives

While at it, why are we not exploring alternative means of transport to ease the burden on our over stretched road network?

Why are we not exploring the feasibility of rail transport which is faster, cheaper and safer?

Transforming our existing rail network into modern electrified high speed rail transport system will be more efficient and easy to attain than this mirage of dualising our highways in the shortest possible time.

The high speed rail system has revolutionalised and transformed passenger transportation the world over.

The Japanese have the bullet train, the French the TGV and the Chinese have their own version. Why are we not taking a cue from these countries and continue to over rely on road transport ?

A journey by high speed express train from Accra to Kumasi should not take more than two hours and Accra to Takoradi should not exceed one and a half hours.

By going for this rail system, the rampant road fatalities on these two highways will be minimised considerably .

Investors

The cost of modernising our rail system to international standards is certainly going to be prohibitive.

That is why we have to go out there to look for investors who would undertake the project on build, operate and transfer arrangements just like the MPS has done on the terminal 3 Tema port expansion project.

No matter how long it takes, those projects will one day become national assets.

The immediate concern should be about the safety, the convenience and the well-being of our citizens.

The writer is a retired Assistant Commissioner of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority.