Amasaman, Jan 24, - More than one
million vehicles of all types were imported into the country from 2005 to 2016,
a data obtained from the Ghana Revenue Authority, Customs Division has
revealed.
Of this fleet, 80 per cent were
second-hand vehicles, with obsolete technology whose carbon dioxide emissions
(CO2) and fuel consumption might no longer be in compliance with the
manufactures standards imposed in developed countries, and therefore, a threat
to Ghana’s environment.
These vehicles, which are the
mainstay of Ghana’s transport sector, are said to consume more than half of the
total oil import and production of the nation and releases virtually a quarter
of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere.
Road Transport also contribute to
ambient air pollution.
Researched has shown that air
pollution facilitate respiratory and cardiovascular health problems.
Due to these factors, Ghana
through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with the UN
Environment and other partner agencies, and Ministries of Transport, and
Energy, and the Drivers and Vehicle Licensing Authority have undertaken an inventory
on the vehicular fleet and inspection evolutions in Ghana from 2005 to 2016 to
inform policy options for fuel economy.
The EPA has, therefore, held a
day’s stakeholders’ workshop at Amasaman, near Accra, to disseminate the report
on vehicle fuel economy policy options for Ghana and explore policy options on
vehicle fuel efficiency, and also share experiences and best practices on fuel
economy standards in the country and in Africa.
The workshop was also meant to
share policy strategies for implementing fuel economy standards in Ghana.
Addressing the participants,
Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, Minister of Environment, Science,
Technology and Innovation whose speech was read on his behalf, said, the
International Energy Agency had revealed that the world-wide transport sector
accounts for about 50 per cent of world energy consumption while transport
consumes 25 per cent of the world’s energy with 90 per cent for fossil fuels.
He said the transport sector was
also known to have the fastest growth rate of Greenhouse House emissions (GHG),
which was about 2.5 per cent per year until 2020.
He said the share of global
energy consumption and the consequent GHG and air pollutant emissions was
expected to continue to increase over the next decade, and the increase was
explained by the growing demand for vehicles and the prosperity of emerging
markets.
“Indeed, total new vehicle sales
estimated at 88 million units in 2014 (OICA, 2014), of which about 65 million
are light vehicles, are expected to increase to 107 million by 2020 (Economist,
2013), he said.
Prof Frimpong-Boateng said Ghana
as part of the global world, has a road transport sector that was a major
contributor to GHG emissions and air pollution in the urban areas.
He noted that the widespread of
vehicles in the country also had a real environmental and economic cost and
represents an important threat to the economic security of the nation.
Therefore, the Government had
taken bold steps to phase out lead in fuels in 2003 and implemented Mass
Transport system in the urban areas in a bid to reduce the number of vehicles
that plied the road and polluted the atmosphere.
He said the Ministry of
Environment through the EPA have been conducting Air Quality Monitoring in
residential, commercial, industrial and roadside locations in Accra since 2005,
and data collected over the years was currently being used as input into the
development of vehicular emission standards and regulations.
Prof Frimpong-Boateng announced
that as part of efforts to improve fuel quality and transport emissions which
were associated with environmental and public health consequences, the Ministry
under the Global Fuel Economy Initiative and ECOWAS low Sulphur Fuel
Initiative, collaborated with the Ministry of Energy to reduced sulphur
standards of diesel and petrol fuels from 3000ppm and 1000ppm respectively to
50ppm since September 1, 2017.
He said aside these programmes,
it would be more expedient to increase the momentum of lowering the volume of
fuel consumed that have direct impact on fuel prices which was used as a major
bargaining power by most transport organisation.
He said that would help reduce
the increasing pressure on national budget and free-up fiscal space for other
sectors of the economy.
He, therefore, gave the assurance
that the Ministry was vying for further prudent policy interventions to reduce
fuel consumption for commuting and make economic savings to citizens and
government among others.
“A major intervention that could
go a long way to remedy the situation may involve the introduction of policies
for fuel economy standards in Ghana,” he said.
He thanked the UN Environment for
partnering Ghana, under the sustainable transport programme to develop policies
on fuel economy standards for the country.
GNA
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