Accra, June 7, GNA - Government is to institute new standardisation policy for the importation of second hand automobile parts as part of measures to check the growing carnage on the roads.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday, Mr Magnus Opare-Asamoah, Deputy Minister of Transport, said even though the country operated a free market economy, there wass the need to introduce some standardisation through proper specification to make it easy to regulate the industry.

He said all manner and types of vehicular parts were being imported into the country at present without proper scrutiny and their environmental effect.

Opening the first International Auto Parts and Accessories Exhibition and Fair in Ghana dubbed "IAPAF", the Deputy Minister said the Government was worried over the increasing spate of accidents and pointed out that defective and faulty vehicular parts largely contributed to it.

He described as unfortunate how the public road transport industry had over the years been characterised with the use of low occupancy and very old vehicles averaging 17 years to 18 years with defective parts and low maintenance standards.

Mr Opare-Asamoah said to ensure proper vehicle maintenance; there was the need to establish modern market that would stock genuine spare parts to cover wider range of vehicle parts.

He said the Ministry of Transport was ready to support such initiative by the dealers in the industry and other interested stakeholders to make genuine and new parts readily accessible at reasonable prices.

The growth and development of any country, Mr Opare-Asamoah said, was directly linked to the means of transport available at a time, hence the need to harness and pool resources for the Sector to spearhead economic development.

He urged the private sector to take advantage of the congenial environment being created by the Government to develop the capacity and to ensure the availability of original and reliable auto parts and accessories for the maintenance and servicing of vehicles. Ms Celestine Kumahor, Chief Executive of Sefi Communication and Events, the organisers of the fair, said it was established out of the desire to showcase genuine spare parts in the auto parts industry. She said similar events under the same name had taken place in Hong Kong; USA; Japan and Canada.

Theme for the Fair is "Converging Automobile Technology for Socio-Economic Development in Africa". Nineteen local and foreign companies are participating in the Fair.