Trend of traffic on inland waterways of Port Harcourt urban coastal environment: a comparative safety imperative for a Ghanaian coastal regional province

The purpose of the study is to compare mobility and access in Sub- Saharan Africa urban cities of Nigeria and Ghana by analysing trends and accident probabilities on the inland waterways to improve safety standards. Primary data from100 respondents through structured data and interview from boat and ferry operators were used. The responses were ranked on a four-point scale based on the selected routes’ average accident probabilities in percent: Very Safe {0-20}, Fairy Safe {21- 50}, Unsafe {51- 80}, and Very Unsafe {81- 100}. Secondary data from the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) and the Volta Lake Transport Company (VLTC) were subjected to probability, percentage and trend analysis. Results indicate that in the Niger delta for every journey there is approximately 59% likelihood of fatal accident; while on the Volta Lake there is a likelihood of 7% fatal accident occurrence. The trend of traffic was high in the Niger delta noticeably in the routes of Akwa- Ibom. Cross Rivers and Rivers State. The Volta Lake recorded high traffic volumes on the routes of Yeji,Tapa Abo and Bidi on market days while on non-market days, Makango. Kwamekrom and Kpechu had high passenger volumes. Estimated annual passenger traffic on the Niger delta routes outweighed that on the Volta Lake routes on a ratio of 4:1. Safety analysis further reveals that the water ways of Port Harcourt in Rivers state were unsafe for travel while the water ways of the Volta Lake were relatively safe as revealed by the average probability ratio of 8:1 in comparative terms. The log linear regression analysis reveals a price elasticity of demand for boat transport of 1.00 and 0.97 for the selected route of Port Harcourt Nigeria and Volta Lake, Ghana respectively. It further supports the fact that more passengers were responsive to travel by waterways in Nigeria than Ghana. The study concludes that waterways of Niger delta basin have high risk indices and likelihood of accident occurrence than the Volta basin; and recommends that VLTC and NIWA should invest optimally and partner with the private sector to enforce and regulate the waterways operations so as to increase safety and mobility of users of the waterways.