IET-GH inducts 130 engineers and calls for underground rail system

Ghana should begin planning an underground urban rail system for its most congested metropolitan corridors, the President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Ghana, has said.

Wonder Salami Davor made the call while inducting 130 engineers into the institution at its 17th induction ceremony. He said the proposal was not simply another conventional transport project, but a demand to design the system Ghana would need over the next 30, 50 and 100 years.

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This is not a call for another conventional transport project. It is a call for us to think beyond today's limitations and begin designing the transportation system that Ghana will need in the next 30, 50 and 100 years.

Davor said an underground rail network integrated with existing roads and surface transport could reduce congestion, improve mobility, lower emissions and recover urban land currently used for road expansion. But he warned that the vision would require more than engineering plans and construction contracts. Financing, procurement integrity, design quality, strict safety standards, local capacity and sustained political commitment would all be necessary.

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Ghana does not merely need more engineers. Ghana needs engineers who will dare to think differently, design boldly, act ethically and deliver solutions that stand the test of time.

The ceremony took place under the theme “Engineering Ghana’s Future: Innovation, Integrity and Sustainable Development.” Davor told the new engineers that their induction marked the start of a responsibility to use their knowledge and creativity to address Ghana’s most pressing challenges.

He said rapidly growing cities were struggling with traffic congestion, long commutes, high fuel consumption, pollution and lost productive time. Ghana needed engineers who would “dare to think differently, design boldly, act ethically and deliver solutions that stand the test of time,” he said. He also warned that technically correct calculations could still produce catastrophic consequences if professional judgment was undermined by corruption, shortcuts or personal interests.

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Your calculations may be technically correct, but if your professional judgment is compromised by corruption, shortcuts or personal interest, the consequences can be catastrophic.