The Ghana Railway Company Limited (GRCL) has sent an SOS to the government to immediately intervene and save it from collapse. The company says its financial situation has become so dire, to the extent that it is unable to purchase fuel to run its manganese freight, as well as the Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU), a passenger train.
As a result, for the past few days all the freight trains, as well as the DMU, have been parked.
In a press statement released by the Ghana Railway Workers Union (GRWU) and copied to The Chronicle, the Union Secretary, Godwill Ntarmah, stated that, aside the inability to purchase fuel, payment of salaries, as well as workers welfare dues, Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), and Credit Union contributions amongst others are also becoming a herculean tasks for management.
The statement, therefore, called on the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, to immediately direct the release of revenue realised from the auctioning of the scrap metals of the GRCL to purchase fuel and other operational challenges to save the company. “We wish to put on record that GRCL is [a] state institution and everything possible must be done to salvage it from total collapse.”
Meanwhile, information available to this reporter indicates that, though the GRCL constantly receives payment from Ghana Manganese Company (GMC) for the haulage of manganese from Nsuta to Takoradi Harbor, the money is expended on other operational costs. That apart, the company is unable to break even for the shuttle rail service it runs from Takoradi-Kojokrom and Tema to Accra.
