450 billion cedis lodged into Road Fund

Accra, Oct. 2, GNA - About 450 billion cedis had been lodged into the Road Fund by the end of September according to records at the Road Fund Secretariat. These amounts had been disbursed to agencies for payment to contractors for routine and periodic maintenance works on roads.

Dr Richard Winfred Anane, Minister of Roads and Transport, who announced this in Accra on Thursday said this had reduced the backlog of road arrears due contractors for maintenance works. He said it had also improved accessibility to those in the productive sectors of the economy such as agriculture, fishing, education and health care delivery. Dr Anane, who was speaking at the Ministry's Meet the Press encounter, said the mobilisation of local resources and funds for the maintenance of the road network was critical in ensuring that conditions on the roads were improved and enhanced on a sustainable level. "Following the increment in the price of petroleum products and the consequential increment in the fuel levy, accruals in the fund has seen a tremendous increase", he said.

Dr Anane said government had so far secured 183 buses for the Metro Mass Transit Company (MMT) for its operations, made up of 108 Iveco Fiat buses donated by the Italian government and 75 DAF/Neoplan buses imported under the Dutch Government Concessionary financing. He said in addition, 23 Intercity used Fiat-Iveco buses and 25 new DAF/Neoplan buses had also been allocated to the Intercity STC Buses to support its operations. Furthermore, 10 units used Intercity Fiat-Iveco buses had been allocated to Omnibus Services Authority (OSA) to support its operations in Obuasi.

Dr Anane said the Ministry was expected to take delivery of an additional 83 Fiat Iveco buses by the end of the year to bring the total number of buses donated by the Italian government to 200. He said government was also negotiating with the Dutch government under the ORET Funding for the supply of 250 intra-city buses. The Dutch Government would approve a grant for the first batch of 100 buses this month to enable the chassis to be delivered soon for construction by Neoplan Ghana.

Dr Anane said government was also negotiating with the Chinese government for the supply of 250 fully assembled buses to beef up the operations of the MMT. Dr Anane announced that since the bus fares for MMT operations were fixed in October 2002 and, notwithstanding, the increment in fuel prices in January this year, it had maintained the existing fares.

By the end of August this year, the MMT made an excess income over expenditure of 1.36 billion cedis from its operations in Accra, Kumasi, Tamale and Sekondi-Takoradi. Dr Anane said only 36 of the buses had broken down nation-wide and not 80 as was reported in the media.

The majority of the buses, Dr Anane said, had transmission problems because their automatic gearbox operated on electronic systems. He said arrangements had already been made for technical assistance from Italy to rectify these problems as well as provide further training to the mechanics of the company in the handling of the complex transmission problems.

Dr Anane said four engineers were expected in Ghana this month to assist to rectify the problem and in addition a quantity of spare parts had arrived and would be cleared from the Tema Port this week for the MMT. He denied media reports that most of the highly trained drivers of the MMT had left and said not more than 10 drivers had left the company on voluntary basis.

Dr Anane said six of them were engaged by the Intercity-STC, while some members of the staff had been dismissed for indiscipline and might have found their way into other institutions. Nana Akomea, Minister of Information gave the assurance that government would not supervise any shoddy work on the roads but it would ensure that the roads were done competently.

He appealed to the Inspectorate Division of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to improve on its performance with the issuing of road worthy certificates to taxi drivers and commercial vehicles some of which were death traps on the roads. Nana Akomea appealed to the Ministry of Roads and Transport to erect very tall traffic lights on the roads since those in operation were short and most drivers found it difficult to see them from afar.