[contextly_sidebar id=”P3DHNgfP6dVLfWXT3NPoRpsfQqu02kU3″]According to them, not only has the situation increased their cost of operations, but it has also resulted in low patronage and reduced government revenue from the sale of aviation fuel.

The cost of aviation fuel in Ghana which is about 3 dollars 14 cents per litre, is the highest compared to some other West African countries.

Country manager for KLM, Axel Metselaar, describes the situation as worrying.

He tells Citi Business News reducing the tax on fuel will increase revenue for airline operators.

“For us one tax that is actually impacting on our operations is the fuel tax, it is to such an extent unfortunately that we are taking fuel from Amsterdam, flying it over to Accra to be used actually for the flight returning, this in our perspective is ridiculous” he observed.

Axel Metselaar further noted, “Something needs to be done, lower the taxes, and you will get more volumes and at the end perhaps it stays all the same in tax revenue … I think it will be a wise decision to reduce taxes in 2016.”

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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Airline operators appeal for reduction in fuel tax appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

[contextly_sidebar id=”C7kPC7IT0VfHHh4JFX3ioq7zbngXb5MV”]The Boankra port and Eastern rail line project proper when completed will among other things decongest the Tema and Takoradi Harbors.

The port is also expected to bring import and export services closer to the doorsteps of shippers in the northern part of the country as well as those coming from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

Government officials are confident the project should take off by the middle of 2016.

According to officials from the Finance ministry full feasibility test for the Boankra port and Eastern rail line has been completed and will be submitted to players involved in the project by Friday 18th December, 2015.

After submission of the test, it will be subjected to market testing where the project will be sold to private sector investors after which there will be an evaluation which will be approved by the Finance ministry.

Cabinet and Parliament will follow suit with approval after the Finance ministry’s approval.

Citi Business News has gathered government will begin negotiating with investors by June 2016 and most likely sign a deal by July 2016.

The Boankra Inland Port and Eastern Line Railway Line project, is an inland extension to the Tema Port, to make railway efficient, decongest the eastern port, enhance Ghana’s role as a transit corridor, feed traffic from other modes of transportation, improve service to customers and reduce cost.
Meanwhile the Eastern rail line track will be provided with rolling stock station upgrades, signaling and communication equipment, while the inland port will have shippers and freight forwarders office, warehouse, commercial buildings, customs co-ordination protocols, customs clearance and procedures and controls.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority Kofi Imbeah the project will cost about 1.5 billion dollars.

The Eastern rail project on its own will cost 1.2 billion dollars inclusive of compensation without compensation it will be at 800 million dollars.

While the port will cost 300 million dollars.

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By:  Vivian Kai Lokko/citimonline.com/Ghana

The post Feasibility tests for Boankra port & Eastern rail project completed appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu who made the revelation said re-branding for each of the buses cost GHC 31,457.28, leading to a total of GHC 3,649,044.75 for the 116 buses.

He quoted these figures from the 2015 annual report on the Petroleum Funds.

Contributing to the debate to approve the 2016 annual budget estimates of the Ministry of Transport on Tuesday, Mr. Mensah – Bonsu said the GH 31,457.28 for each bus is too huge and cannot be tolerated.

But the Transport Minister, Dzifa Attivor in her response to the claim by the Minority Leader said she did not have the details of the re-branding at hand and promised to make it available to the House at a later date.

Presenting the Roads and Transport Committee’s report, Chairman of the Committee, Theophilus Tetteh Chaie said the 2015 approved budget for the Ministry and its agencies were “drastically revised downwards to GH 50,047,963 by the Ministry of Finance” from GH 179, 767,991.

Mr. Chaie said the reason for the revision ” was that, the expected revenue inflow was particularly affected by the slump in the international oil price which the committee is agreeable to .”

He noted that the “committee however could not review the 2015 ceiling for the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) item since the mid year review did not specify that amount reduction for the Ministry”

The Chairman of the Committee further indicated that there is shortage of critical staffing  at agencies such as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), and Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA).

According to the report, the GRDA needs more engineers because the only engineer at the Authority is its Chief Executive Officer.

The report further indicated that “the performance of domestic aviation is currently faced with a challenge which has the potential of crippling the once vibrant industry in the country.

While the foreign international airlines are exempted from taxes in the importation of spare parts.”

It added that the recent introduction of Value Added Tax on domestic fares has shot up airfare, making it expensive for many people to use air transport resulting in low patronage.

“Further, tax on jet fuels has made the price of the commodity high as compared to other countries in the sub region. Indeed, the domestic airline operators have communicated to the Committee, the difficulty in meeting their optimal operational cost in view of the enumerated taxes,” it said.

Contributing to the debate, Member of Parliament for Bekwai, Joseph Osei-Owusu said the staffing challenges at the various agencies will affect their operations, adding that country’s programmes with the International Monetary Fund has worsened the employment situation.

The House finally approved an amount of GHC 126, 317, 102 for the Transport Ministry for the 2016 financial year.

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Source: Daily Heritage

The post Gov’t blows GHC 3.6m on rebranding 116 buses appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to the Asuogyaman District Chief Executive, Apim Darko, work on the bridge is near completion and workers are putting finishing touches to it ahead of this weekend.

[contextly_sidebar id=”LBMfR52xFfbt1Z3MWdkgURoQuPcqGq9F”]“I can confirm that work is almost complete. About last week we had a site meeting and there is every indication that they have finished with the work.”

“They are cleaning up the place and putting finishing touches to it,” he added.

Mr Darko went on to state the bridge will be open to traffic immediately after it is commissioned by President John Mahama this weekend on Saturday December 19.

He said, “The commissioning has been scheduled for Saturday the 19. We are expecting his Excellency [President Mahama] to come and then commission so we can start using the bridge again.”

“The bridge will be opened to traffic immediately after President John Mahama commissions it,” he continued.

The Adomi Bridge was closed to vehicular traffic to allow major rehabilitation on March 14, 2014.

The rehabilitation work on the bridge cost Ghana an estimated €13 million.

The aftermath of the closure of the bridge saw drivers and passengers facing various problems in their efforts to commute between the Eastern and the Volta regions of the country.

There were technical problems with one of the two pontoons purchased by the Ministry of Roads and Highways to convey vehicles, people and goods across the Volta Lake further complicating the once simple commute across regions.

The idea to construct the Adomi suspension bridge in 1957 was necessitated by the need to link the Volta Region some parts of the Eastern Region that were cut off from the rest of Ghana.

Prior to the construction of the bridge, travelers to and from those parts Ghana had to cross the Volta Lake on boats at Senchi.

The Adomi Bridge was therefore built across the Lake at Atimpoku up north of Senchi in 1956 to ease the burden of travelers.

The bridge was designed and completed by William Brown, of the engineers Freeman Fox & Partners.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Adomi Bridge to re-open this weekend appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The drivers claim they are charged illegal fees called “Bond de Chargement” by the driver union in that country.

According to them, the ‘Bond de Chargement’ has been imposed on them at the Burkinabe border and failure to pay usually results in them being assaulted and their vehicles sometimes damaged.

Last week, the Chairman of the Joint Association of Port Transport Union, Husein Isahak, appealed to the authorities to come to their aid.

[contextly_sidebar id=”M7rRWnn3w5FgYAqZAznrf4A4EH0JkW1j”]He revealed the union has been making their demands known via numerous letters to the port authority since last year, but are yet to receive a response from the port directors and other authorities.

Mr. Husein Isahak added that if authorities fail to come to their aid, the union will be forced to retaliate, a threat they have followed through with this demonstration cum strike action.

The Vice Chairman of the Joint Association of Port Transport Union, Abdulla Baba, reiterated the reasons for the demonstration and said the ‘Bond de Chargement’ was instituted without their knowledge.

He said, “We are demonstrating because there is a so called ‘Bond de Chargement’ which was implemented last year April by the Ghana Director of Ports without telling us anything.”

Mr. Abdulla Baba stated that they had made their demands known peacefully but the authorities refused to comply with them hence the need for them to demonstrate.

“Since last year, we were on them but they refused to listen to us. That is the reason we are sending a strong signal to them. They should withdraw the bond with immediate effect,” he added.

Mr. Abdulla Baba warned that the drivers will not be plying the Burkina Faso route with cargo until their demand to have the ‘Bond de Chargement’ removed is met.

“We will advise ourselves. The whole country, we’ll be at a standstill. No Ghanaian truck will be in operation till the ‘Bond de Chargement’ is withdrawn; so we are advising our drivers not to move to Burkina Faso.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifemonline.com/Ghana

The post Ghana-Burkina Faso truck drivers strike over ‘controversial’ charges appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Theophilus Tetteh Chaie told Citi News the committee decided to increase levies because “the revenue generated into the road fund account is not enough to do maintenance works on these roads.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”wUmKyPoZSLXJvTNPzsgRpZnMwWtmkHmD”]”Over the years within the past ten years, our road networks have quadrupled and that is bringing a lot of strain on the resources that is generated into the road fund account.”

According to him, the amount of money that is accrued from fuel levies, road tolls etc are not enough to maintain these roads.

“The road fund needs about 850 million cedis per year to maintain our road network but we get less than 300 million, resulting in a shortfall.”

Aside a proposal for an increment in road levies to address the problem, Mr. Tei also suggested a fixed percentage for road levies to generate more revenue.

“I believe that instead of an amount, it [road levies] should be in the form of a percentage so that anytime there is an increment [in fuel prices] then there is an automatic adjustment …so that if [Fuel] is high, it [road levies] will go high, if it is low , it will also go low but in this case it is an amount so if today let’s say there is an increment in petroleum prices, the amount that goes into the road fund is the same because it is a fixed amount but if it were to be a percentage , the moment there is an increase the percentage will take into account the increment and that will give the fund more money,” he argued.

The Road Fund Act was enacted to finance routine, periodic maintenance and rehabilitation of public roads in the country.

The Fund  is also used to assist the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the exercise of their functions relevant to public roads under any enactment.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

The post Road tolls to go up soon appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

[contextly_sidebar id=”mgBRtlPHPW1XHwDeQYCQIMTinx6lceM2″]Poor visibility compelled domestic airlines to ground flights for almost a week.

Although the situation is not completely stable, the Chief Operating Officer of Africa World Airlines, Captain Samuel Thompson tells Citi Business News the company is set to for three flights to Kumasi.

“There is a marked improvement in the visibility so we are monitoring the 11 o’clock weather but we have started taking passengers for to Kumasi. Tamale is still not good enough hopefully we should be able to do the last three flights that is 12:30, 3 o’clock and 6:45,” he said.

“The Chief Executive of Starbow, James Eric Antwi also stated, “We are yet to start but we are looking at going to Takoradi and Kumasi late afternoon we operating to Kumasi is around 4 pm. We have sent messages to our clients that those who want to travel to any of these areas to come.”

Flights to Tamale still cancelled 

Meanwhile flights to Tamale are still on hold as the weather condition is not favorable.

“We need to get a much better visibility than we are getting now. Tamale is at 2,500 meters which is below our limit of 4,000 meters so we need a marked improvement in Tamale before we can go,” Captain Samuel Thompson noted.

Starbow’s CEO, James Eric Antwi affirmed this development.

Meteorological Agency denies clearing domestic airlines

In a related development, the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMA) has discounted claims it has cleared domestic airlines to commence flights.

There were media reports that some the commencement of operations of some domestic airlines follows clearance by the Meteorological Agency.

But Operations Supervisor at the GMA, James Dusu in an interview with Citi Business News, described the comments as untrue.

“We have not said anything to that effect and we are not in a position to do that the latest for Accra is 1000 meters it will depend on what the condition for each airlines is. That is what they work with; for the international airlines it is safe for them but with the domestic ones, since their destinations are all in the same country with the same influence to also advise them as to whether they are going to keep grounded or embark on a destination,”

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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Domestic Airlines resume flights to all airports except Tamale appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

[contextly_sidebar id=”D1ZP2qrMpFYfZBApevc7NDHy9OIYoGtg”]The ILS which cost the nation 800,000 euros, was acquired in 2014  to help reduce situations where aircrafts will be unable to land at the airport due to severe weather patterns including the harmattan.

But months after its installation local  airlines were forced to ground flight operations over the weekend due to the harmattan.

Questions have been raised on why the regulator of the industry the GCAA directed the airlines to put on hold flight operations despite the installation of the ILS, with some industry players alleging that the ILS is currently not functional.

But the Deputy Director General of the GCAA, Martey Atoklo disputes the claims.

He says it would be suicidal to allow flight operations during this period when the harmattan is severe.

“The government says the ILS must be operated safely so we are sticking to 1200 km below that if it is 800 or 900km, we cannot use it because we are supposed to save lives the weather is so bad …it is from Chad all the way to Senegal, we cannot do anything until the natural phenomenon is over. The ILS is working but you have to operate within a certain weather minimal below that, we will not allow that, it will be suicidal to do that, people will kill themselves it’s not safe. We have category one, category two then we have category 3 AB and C, the C is one that gives you a zero visibility landing but even that you will need some radar vectors.” He said.

He fears “people are skewing their arguments to levels that are so unfortunate … even a car if we have rains, some people park their cars others too risk and drive and get their vehicles in gutters,”

Earlier the authority announced local airlines will be allowed to start flight operations on the 15th of December, 2015 by then the harmattan weather would have cleared up.

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By:  Vivian Kai Lokko/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Instrument Landing System at Kumasi Airport operational- GCAA appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Ybrdo50ky2oJpwKxpRfDO9d0YuN7oLTG”]Domestic Airlines were directed to ground flights by the authority last week for about two more weeks as a result of bad weather caused by the harmattan.

The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority in a “Notice to Air Men [NOTAM],” on Saturday December 5, 2015 warned that the weather may only be safe for flights after December 15, 2015.

Domestic airlines would thus be grounded until that time, unless a dramatic change in the weather pattern.

The development is expected to lead to the airlines losing an estimated GH¢6million per week if the harmattan, which is associated with poor visibility, continues to cause flight suspensions and delays.

According to the B&FT, Africa World Airlines (AWA), which operates 50-seat ERJ 145LR jets to Tamale, Kumasi and Takoradi, is estimated to lose about GH¢2.5million in gross revenue per week if visibility continues to be poor.

Starbow, which operates two 94-seat BAe 146-300 jets and a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 aircraft that can seat up to 78 passengers, is estimated to lose about GH¢4million per week if the dusty season continues.

There are fears the latest development will only worsen the predicament of the local aviation industry which is already inundated with high cost of operations including high price of aviation fuel and increasing taxes following the imposition of 17.5 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) in July,2015 on their operations.

There have been calls for the regulator- GCAA to offer some form of reprieve for the airlines for this period.

But the Deputy Director General of the authority Martey Atoklo tells Citi Business News no such move will be made.

He explains that ‘these weather phenomenon airlines experience is not peculiar to Ghana, some countries  experience  typhoons, storms etc,  we- GCAA don’t have compensation in place for these issues but what the airlines do is that they manage it ‘.

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By:  Vivian Kai Lokko/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post No compensation for local airlines for harmattan losses appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This, the union said is as a result of the failure on the part of government to pay their two months salaries.

In a National Executive Committee resolution passed and jointly signed by the General Secretary and Chairman of the Railways Workers Union, “NEC therefore resolve that if by December 18 2015 the Railway company does not honour its pay obligation in full including December pay, Railway workers shall withdraw their services in running of passenger services from Accra to Tema and Accra to Nsawam.”

The union also called for the immediate dissolution of the Board of Directors for the Ghana Railway Company Limited following what the NEC described as a “failure on the part of the board to execute its functions.”

“NEC therefore calls for the immediate resolution of the board and a new one instituted for effective policy formulation for the company. We also call on the Ministry of Transport to take necessary steps to review ACT 779 Railway Act in respect of ownership of Ghana Railway Company Limited assets.”

The resolution stated; the NEC entreats the government of Ghana to as a matter of urgency, revamp the sector “especially the much talked about Western Rail Line for effective transport of goods and persons across the country.”

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By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Railway workers to withdraw services next week over salaries appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.