Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra)
Linda Akrasi Kotey
1 July 2009
The Transportation Minister, Mike Hammah, has disclosed that looking at the number of the metro mass transit buses which are broken down, one could clearly see that the due diligence done on the vehicles was flawed.
He argued that it did not serve our purpose, because looking at the nature of those buses, they were not suitable for tropical countries such as Ghana, because it was not made for use in the tropics.
The Minister said this in Parliament when he was answering a question on the number of metro mass buses imported from China, and the number now operational.
Mr. Hammah noted that to date, a total of 400 Yaxing buses, comprising 312 single-deckers and 88 double-deckers, have been procured for the Metro Mass Transit (MMT) at a cost of US$18.6 million.
He mentioned that out of the 400 buses, 195 buses were not in operation, due to mechanical or electrical faults and the unavailability of parts, 91 buses are in operation, and 13 buses already cannibalised to service other buses and disposed off as scrap.
According to him, mechanical and electrical failures, especially poor engine and clutch problems, coupled with after sales service support, had resulted in several Yaxing buses being grounded for long periods, with the attendant loss of revenue.
The Minister mentioned that a direct consequence of the increase of urbanization, and use of many private and mini buses was causing congestion in the cities coupled with high fuel consumption, and consequently high cost of travel per passenger per kilometer.
He was certain that the successful expansion of and operation of the MMT with a planned bus replacement programme, would help reduce congestion in the cities, lower cost of travel for the mass of the people, and therefore have a positive social and economic impact.
Mr. Hammah explained that in order to fulfill the government's policy of providing passenger mass transport services in the urban areas of the country, a pilot mass transit service was introduced in October 2002, with 17 used high-capacity buses.
He said after the initial encouraging operation of the pilot project, the government in 2003 used the assets of the defunct Omnibus Services Authority (OSA), as equity in partnership with the Social Security National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), National Investment Bank (NIB), State Transport Corporation (STC) and Prudential Bank, to establish and incorporate the MMT as a limited liability company, to operate transportation services.
The Minister earlier told the House that the influx of many right-hand drive buses into the country was because the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) management Law 1993 PNDC Law 330, which banned the importation, was amended in 2002 by Act 632.
He said the importation of right-hand drive vehicles was restricted to refuse trucks and equipment for sanitation, construction and mining equipment for use at sites off the road.
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