Accra, July 25, GNA - Sixty million dollars are needed as severance package for redundant workers of the Ghana Railways Company (GRC). Ms Josephine Hilda Addoh, NPP Member of Parliament for Kwadaso, observed that so many people were under-employed at the GRC, which started deteriorating some years back and it would be better to settle them to improve the efficiency of the Company.

She made the comment in a contribution to a statement by Mr George Kuntu Blankson, NDC-Mfantseman East, on the revamping of the Railway System in Ghana to meet the needs of national development.

Ms Addoh said there were far too many workers in the Compan y, who received low salaries and it would be better that some went home as a way of improving the salary levels of those who would remain.

In his statement, Mr Blankson said railways were always looked upon as the most convenient and cheapest means of hauling goods. It was, however, confronted with a myriad of challenges as a result of inadequate resources culminating in a situation where it was incapable of providing satisfactory service to its customers. Mr Blankson said the Company was saddled with debts and suggested that the Government should immediately adopt short-term measures while it worked on long term ones to resuscitate it.

He said despite the deplorable state of the rail infrastructure it still had the capacity to haul at least 100,000 tonnes of cocoa at once compared to the present average of 12,000 tonnes by trucks. The Member recommended to the Government to do more to encourage customers to settle their indebtedness to the Company.

Mr Blankson also called for an adjustment of the rate paid for the haulage of bauxite to reflect the current price of petroleum products, spare parts and other inputs used by the Company and recommended salary adjustment for the workers. 25 July 06