Gov't signs MOU with UMat to train students on railway works

The George Grant University for Mines and Technology at Tarkwa have signed an MOU with the Ghana Railway Company Limited (GRCL) to train students in the various specialised areas of the railway sector.

The Minister for Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah addressing the press in Accra on Wednesday, November 28, 2018, stated, “the school will, in 2019, start running courses in railways related subjects such as railways engineering, signalling, telecommunication and infrastructure.”

He explained these courses and training are to help build a core of Ghanaian professionals in the railway sector.
Joe Ghartey who is the Minister for Railway, in May 2018 said, “the Railway Development Authority needs properly trained people to be able to build the railway infrastructure and to maintain it.”

Speaking at a ceremony held at the Old Railway school in Essikado in the Western Region, Mr. Ghartey stated, “if we train the students properly, jobs will stay in this country. We won't bring people from outside to come and do certain things for us. We will employ our own.”

Mr. Nkrumah added, “the Railway Location Workshop is also being modernised and equipped to become a one-stop workshop to serve the railway, mining, petroleum and agricultural industries in Ghana.”

He mentioned that two out of the seven workshops have been rehabilitated in 2018.

The Information Minister also stated many of the railway works under construction are near completion.

He said the rehabilitation of the Achimota to Tema section of the line is approximately 90% complete and test runs have commenced.

Also, the Ghana Railway Company Limited, with its own workforce, commenced rehabilitation works on the 70.8km narrow gauge section of the Eastern Railway Line from Accra to Nsawam and Accra to Tema.

“The procurement process to develop a new standard gauge line for the Eastern Railway Line with a distance of about 340km, is ongoing. This is from Accra-Tema to Kumasi with a branch line from Busoso to Kyebi,” Mr. Nkrumah stated.
According to him, eight consortia submitted their final bids on October 11.

“The government will complete negotiations with the most preferred Concessionaire before the end of this year to develop the project on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis,” Mr. Nkrumah said.

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