Attivor: 245 buses for BRT system

Two hundred and forty-five buses are expected to be brought to Ghana from Brazil for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system to take effect; Transport Minister Dzifa Attivor has told Morning Starr host Kafui Dey.

“We are in the process of procuring 245 buses for …use for the BRT system,” she said Tuesday.

She said there has been a delay in implementing the system because the processes “have to go through value-for-money audit which is before the crown agent now.”

“I’m hoping that within the shortest possible time – if I say the shortest possible time, I’m believing that before the end of this month – they would have given us the go ahead. Because for the BRT, the prototype buses, 10 of them have been manufactured already based on our specifications that we gave the manufacturing company in Brazil.

“So when they bring those ones, we’ll use it to train the drivers before waiting for the high numbers of the buses that will be coming,” she said.

The BRT system meant to start in the Greater Accra Region, especially along the Accra-Amasaman corridor, is being introduced by the government with support from the World Bank and the French Development Agency (AFD).

It will be used to enhance mobility of people by ensuring an efficient public transit system in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA). After its successful takeoff in Accra, the system will be expanded to Adentan, Kasoa and Tema.

“When you go to the Amasaman-Accra CDB [Central Business District] road now, Urban Roads [Department] is putting in place the demarcations for the BRT system, so work is ongoing except that we’ve not started yet, that is why the public is not seeing what we are doing.

“All these have to be done at times, at the background before bringing it to the forefront. When the buses arrive, everybody will know that the BRT that we’ve been talking about is coming to fruition…I can assure you that once we go through these processes, and we’ve been given the go ahead, the buses will come. The good thing about this is that it’s not going to be a burden for Government,” Attivor said.