More buses procured to boost public transport

Government is to procure 290 new Scania buses to boost the public transport system, Mrs Dzifa Aku Attivor, the Minister of Transport, has announced.

She said parliament has already approved a US$110 million loan facility for the purchase of the buses, 50 of which would go to augment the fleet of Inter-City STC and the rest for the bus rapid transit system.

Separately, a supplier’s credit facility of US$42 million has been endorsed for the supply of 200 buses to strengthen operations of the Metro Mass Transit (MMT).

Mrs Attivor was addressing the opening of a three-day annual review conference of the sector Ministry in Kumasi.

“Transport infrastructure development for accelerated growth” is the theme.

The meeting is providing the platform for the Ministry and its agencies to critically assess performance, discuss pertinent challenges and the way forward.

Mrs Attivor expressed concern about the high rate of road crashes and the attendant fatalities and called for discipline and respect for traffic regulations.

She defended the enforcement of the law on wearing of seat belt and asked transport operators to comply with it.

She also spoke of efforts the Ministry was making to improve safety and comfort of transportation on the Volta Lake and said three 50-seater high speed passenger ferries and one modular passenger/freight vessel had been acquired.

The ferries have already been delivered, waiting to be assembled and that they could be put into operation by the end of the year, she added.

Touching on the railway infrastructure, Mrs Attivor said the go-ahead had been given for funding from the Brazilian government to reconstruct a section of the Western line from Kojokrom to Awaso.

“The Eastern Railway line is also being packaged together with the Boankra Inland Port to be developed on a public private partnership (PPP) basis for which a transaction advisor has currently been engaged and has started work.”

She reminded the Chief Executives and other officials to be proactive in the discharge of their duties, saying, “We need to change our attitude to work and ensure that it is not business as usual”.