Prospects of Ghana's inland water transport development: An informal transport services delivery perspective

Abstract

Inland Water Transport (IWT) services have been widely used in countries as alternate means of transport. However, in Ghana, this important resource is underutilized even though surface water makes 5 % of the total land area and more than 80 % of this resource is navigable. This study assesses the constraints and potential of the informal inland transport service delivery within the context of developing an efficient inland water transport system on the Volta Lake. Primary data was collected from 300 study participants through interviews and questionnaires in 26 adjoining communities and secondary data from extant literature. Study findings revealed an estimated monthly passenger of 265,550 persons and a total monthly freight tonnage of 63,856 were realized from transport services provided by 4553 boats. Only 30 % of the main access roads to communities were in good condition and about 62 % of them featured a vibrant boat building industry. In total, 2.3 million people are estimated to be socio-economically impacted, and their accessibility and mobility needs will require attention, in addition to the enormous natural resources located within the Lake's sphere of influence. The prospects are therefore good for investments in improving navigational channels, landing sites, provision of safer boats and complimentary station facilities, among others, within an overall efficient IWT services and a multi-modal transport system.