Company News of Friday, March 29, 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-03-29

The government plans to introduce buses running on compressed natural gas and electric buses as part of efforts to reduce air pollution on the country's roads.

Eco-buses should phase out urban buses – commonly known as "trotro" – that use dirty fossil fuels such as diesel and gasoline.

AfDB support

Vice Minister of Transport Daniel Titus Glover, who said this in Accra last week, said that electric mobility is a promising technological solution to fight the pollutants badociated with climate change and has called for investors and interested parties to partner with the government for government deployment. l & # 39; initiative.

"In the first phase, we are working with the African Development Bank (AfDB) to secure Green Climate Fund funding to introduce electric buses into our transit system," said M Titus Glover.

"Although there are potential obstacles, we have the opportunity to implement fundamental changes in the way we move, and this will continue aggressively," he added.

The deputy minister spoke at a roundtable with representatives of the Ghanaian government, investors, development partners and civil society organizations to discuss ways to tackle climate change and reduce the risk of climate change. promote sustainable development in the country.

The discussion, focused on "Investing in climate change action for job creation and economic development", focused on progress in implementing nationally determined contributions (NDCs). and the investment opportunities that went with it.

Reduce road pollution

Mr. Glover stated that the predominantly private-sector ground transportation system included the use of small to medium sized buses used primarily to provide transit services (trotro) and others. long distance services with limited regulation, infrastructure problems and poor quality of service. increasing mortality, persistent problems of traffic congestion and poor air quality.

"Studies have estimated that the average Ghanaian spends about eight years of his life in traffic, which has serious consequences for productivity and contributes greatly to global warming," he said.

"Our road transport sector remains a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and accounted for approximately 45% of total fuel combustion emissions and 13% of total national GHG emissions in 2016 ", did he declare.

He noted that the level of pollutant emissions from the sector was not only influenced by the increasing demand for transport services and the resulting traffic jams, but mainly by the use of fossil fuels with poorly maintained engines.

AfDB ready to support

Dr. Anthony Nyong, Director of Climate Change and Green Growth at AfDB, expressed the bank's commitment to help Ghana develop a good business model that would make the introduction of sustainable electric buses, beneficial to Ghanaians and "not just to a dump these cars".

"Why can not the bank support such technology to modernize our urban centers, significantly reduce emissions and help Ghana achieve its NDC goals?", He asked.