The Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has added his voice to the millions of Ghanaians who have called on the government to give the PSC Tema Shipyard and Drydock Company special attention to become the best on the Africa Continent.
The most pressing attention the company urgently needs from the government is the title of transfer, which would see the state having 100 percent share in the management of the company.
Presently, it is called PSC Tema Shipyard and Drydock, but when the title of transfer becomes successful, the prefix PSC would be cancelled out, thus, making the facility a bonafide Ghanaian company.
By its new name, the facility would attract investors to partner it to improve on its operations.
Considering how the shipyard would create more employment for Ghanaians, and in further position it as the best vessel fabrication yard in the sub-region, should the government ensure the transfer of title of the facility, Dr Henry Kwabena Kokofu, Executive Director of the EPA, was of the strong view that the government needs to pay critical attention to making the shipyard the bonafide property of the state.
He expressed his position on the matter when he and his team of experts from the Agency paid a working visit to the shipyard on Wednesday, when it began a three-day tour of some selected industries in the Tema enclave to, first and foremost, assess the level of environmental compliance of the industries, and lastly, create a continuous awareness of the EPA’s monitoring and enforcement mandate.
On the first day of its tour, the EPA visited GHACEM, PSC Tema Shipyard and Drydock Company, Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), and Ferro Fabric Company Limited.
At the PSC Tema Shipyard and Drydock Company, Samuel Owusu Appiah, Sales and Marketing Manager, toured Dr Kokofu and his team round some parts of the facility, including the fabrication shop and drydock.
At the fabrication shop, Dr Kokofu was struck to hear that some heavy fabrication equipment had been unused since their installation in 1968, when Dr Kwame Nkrumah built the shipyard.
Samuel Owusu Appiah suggested the decommissioning of the obsolete equipment, and explaining that the cost of maintenance would drain the finances of the company.
At the depth of the drydock, Dr Kokofu and his team witnessed fabrication works on a vessel that had berthed.
The fabricators, all Ghanaians, were welding the base of the vessel.
Impressed at the works he witnessed, Dr Kokofu remarked that the facility would be more beneficial to the state if the government would direct critical attention to it.
That notwithstanding, he advised the management of the facility to embark on tree planting and grassing of the bare premises.
Another worrying sight was the huge deposit of plastic wastes in the sea, which quickly gather in the drydock when its gates are opened for a vessel to sail in for maintenance works.
“The plastic wastes are just too much, and intensive education would have to be embarked on by all the assemblies to ensure that both aquatic life and the environment are safe from these non-biodegradable materials,” he said.
Lastly, he advised scrap dealers who cut abandoned vessels on the sea to engage the expertise of the shipyard to save the ocean from pollution.
“The Marine Police and Ghana Navy must start arresting and prosecuting offenders,” he concluded.
Dr Alexander Yaw Adusei Jnr., Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PSC Tema Shipyard Company, on his part, acknowledged the observations of his guest, “and for us at the shipyard, we will continue to put in our best, but need an external support to help us to reduce turnaround time.
“We will meet with the EPA to direct us on a few matters, and we hope that on their next visit, the story will be more interesting than what we will tell today,” Dr Adusei Jnr. said.
The post PSC Tema Shipyard needs special attention -EPA Executive Director appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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