The Inter-City State Transport Company (STC) has secured a new state of the art vehicle-testing centre at the STC yard in Accra.
The facility, constructed by Hammer Automobile and Transport Company Limited, was officially opened to public use over the weekend and is intended to serve the Kwame Nkrumah Circle-Kaneshie, North Industrial Area, Accra Central and Graphic Road catchment areas.
The centre is designed to carry out visual and automated testing of vehicles to see if they are roadworthy, and will be under supervision of the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Authority (DVLA). The visual tests comprise the windscreen, tyres, wipers, wheel-nuts and bolts, seat belt, number plates and seats; while the automated tests consist of alignment, shock-absorbers, front-rear brakes and lighting systems.
Managing Director of Inter-City STC, Nana Akomea, speaking at a short unveilling ceremony stated that there was a lot of investment made into the facility; therefore, there will be no excuses for bus and truck owners to escape testing their vehicles as the facility can check their roadworthy liabilities.
On that backdrop, he admonished the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service to enforce the law and be vigilant in inspecting the roadworthiness of vehicles.
Managing Director-Hammer Automobile and Transport Company, Nana Kwaku Oppong-Amoah, indicated that government through the Ministries of Transport, and Roads and Highways is bent on reducing road crashes to protect lives and property. He further notified that government has also promised to create an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive through Public-Private Partnerships (PPP).
“What we are witnessing today is a result of the PPP that seeks to reduce unemployment and also create opportunity for other business. Statistics have shown that about 70 percent of vehicles plying our roads are not roadworthy, and this facility is to help in checking the roadworthiness of vehicles which ply our road,” he said.
The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of DVLA, Prince Adusei, said since Legislative Instrument (LI 2010) was passed in 2012, the authority for PPP agreements had put in place a number of private vehicle testing stations: “This one we are commissioning today is the 26th – with four more on the way. We also have over 50 applications pending, but we are not rushing into accrediting them. Also, the Accra Digital Centre will soon be accredited to give out driving licences,” he stressed.
Samuel Oppong, Board Chairman of Inter-City STC, called on motorists to regularly test and repair their vehicles if they are faulty for their own safety; adding that accidents are mainly caused by bad cars and bad drivers, and not necessarily bad roads.
“This facility can accommodate 20 buses at a go, and bus owners no longer have any excuse for not checking the roadworthiness of their vehicles,” he concluded.
