DVLA to start vehicle emission test in Ghana
The Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) will soon start an emission test on vehicles in Ghana to ensure that vehicles emit acceptable levels of carbon.
Dr Bernice Adiku Heloo, Deputy Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), told the GNA in an interview that checking the emission levels of vehicles was part of the mechanism to reduce carbon emission.
It is also part of the strategy of the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) to help Ghana mitigate the impact of climate change on citizens.
The Minister was part of a workshop organized by the Ministry to educate participants on the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions under a project dubbed “Facilitating Implementation and Readiness for Mitigation (FIRM)”, supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
The FIRM project aims at strengthening national capacities to formulate low carbon development strategies and identify mitigation opportunities within the context of national sustainable development priorities and the evolving concept of NAMAs.
Dr Heloo said vehicles that did not pass the emission test in Ghana would be assisted to get the right standards and that a Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDs) would help Ghana quantify emission of Green House Gases per the key sectors.
“We cannot relent now or in the future in our effort to mobilize all resources to address climate change challenges and equip local communities with the capacity to be resilient to climate change,” she said
The Deputy Minister said Ghana was committed to pursuing development options that wouldl not increase its emission levels hence the NAMAs and the LCDs.
Mr Daniel Benefor of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that there are devices called Capacitors that helps save energy in electrical appliances when installed in homes.
He urged Ghanaians to see renewable energy as an alternative, saying, “I believe in the bottom-up approach to renewable energy where the average Ghanaian understands the importance of using renewable energy.”
Mr Bernard Abeiku Arthur, former Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Urban Transportation, expressed belief that the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project was an option for an environmentally sustainable mode of transport.
BRT is a project that seeks to improve mobility within the urban centres by encouraging people to park their personal cars and use public buses while promoting environmental sustainable transport mode
He said one of the objectives of the introduction of the BRT was to promote a shift to a more environmentally sustainable transport mode with lower emission.
Mr Arthur mentioned that when fully implemented travel time from Kasoa to Accra Central could be reduced to 28 minutes instead of the one hour and 20 minutes that it usually takes
Mr Lennart Kuntze of the United Nations Environment Programme said Ghana had a competitive advantage for developing renewable energy, saying, ” There are favourable conditions for solar energy.”
Source: GNA
This is long overdue my vehicle every second year and agin it doesn’t matter how many times a vehicle is sold each time you pay tax and emission testing is require
Ghana need trains not buses so that people can leave their vehicles home and at trains stations. stop keep so many buses to clog roadways instead of trains
Please Wake UP, YES it is needed but you can only implement this if there is the infrastructure to run and police it, at present you don’t have the facilities to do it. properly.
you pull a vehicle for smoking, then what? theres not many places who have the right equipment to calibrate pump, if you start this about 3/4 of the vehicle will be off the road.
The testing of vehicles is a farce, vehicles get passed without going to the testing station, vehicle go in roadworthy condition still pass.
yes, this want introducing but not now, other important issue need resolving first.
Remember MONEY TALKS better than laws.