Ghana must develop own indigenous engineering capacity

GHANA needs to develop its own indigenous engineering and technology capacity to compete effectively in the global economy.
The President of the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE), Mr Frederick K. Akwaboah, told the Daily Graphic this after he had delivered his 39th presidential address in Accra.
He observed that capacity building of engineering and technical expertise in Ghana and other developing countries was thus key to enhancing "our ability to become economically self-sufficient and improve the quality of life for our peoples".
He said the country could not afford to continue buying such capacity from the developed countries, noting that when technical expertise from developed countries was provided by external funding, it was often ineffective in appropriately responding to local needs and constraints.
Mr Akwaboah said technology was thus key to enhancing "our ability to become economically self-sufficient and improve the quality of life for our peoples".
"It is reassuring to note that all the presidential aspirants are telling the whole nation that they will create jobs, improve living conditions and transform Ghana from producer of raw materials to a manufacturing economy," he said, and added that engineering capacity played a significant role in most of the processes involved.
He expressed the hope of the GhIE that foreign engineers would not undertake the jobs that would be created at the expense of the indigenous ones.
Mr Akwaboah, who earlier in his presidential address touched on various issues of national concern, said no country in the world, especially those in Africa, could achieve and sustain economic growth to provide acceptable living standards for her citizens without effective infrastructure.
He said poor infrastructure service was among the major factors that hindered Africa's development, noting that without adequate infrastructure, African countries would not be able to harness the power of science, technology and innovation to meet development objectives and be competitive on the international market.
Touching on the role of engineers in poverty reduction in Ghana, he said the growth rate of the construction sub-sector rose from 4.8 per cent in 2001 to 10 per cent in 2005 and levelled off at 8.2 per cent in 2006, adding that the provision of ICT infrastructure also experienced substantial progress.
According to statistics he quoted, the number of schools which were equipped with computer terminals and personal computers increased from virtually zero in 2002 to a total of 913 at the end of 2005, which exceeded the overall target by 399.
Additionally, the number of fixed telephone lines installed increased significantly from the 2002 level of 200,000 to 331,000 in 2005, while the number of cellular phones and pay-phones stood at 2,655,000 and 11,037 respectively, representing about 72 and 11 per cent increases respectively.
On transportation challenges in Ghana, Mr Akwaboah quoted the National Road Condition Survey (2006-2007) report, which stated that Ghana had a total of 62,954 kilometre (km) of road network as of 2007, made up of 11,180km of trunk roads, 42,010km of feeder roads and 9,764km of urban roads, disclosing that 10,096km of the road network were paved while the remainder of 52,854km were unpaved.
"The conditions of the roads were classified as 24,450km good, 18,559km fair and 19,945km poor. Poor rural transport has been blamed for problems in agriculture and social service delivery," he said.
The address also touched on water supply challenges in the country, environmental sanitation, energy issues, among other areas, which when addressed, could accelerate Ghana's development capacity in the area of engineering.