With a fleet of about 1,000 buses operating on its routes throughout the country, the Metro Mass Transit Ltd. (MMT) is undoubtedly the leading transport company in the country.
From 2009 when the company began to find its feet in the transport terrain, it initiated prudent financial management practices and as a result was able to settle a debt of GH�400,000 it owed GOIL on fuel and other outstanding debts.
Mr. Maxwel Kofi Awuku, Ag. Managing Director of MMT disclosed this to news men in Accra. He explained that for the first time in the history of the company, it has been able to procure 150 luxury buses from TATA African Holdings at a cost 11 million dollars from its internally generated funds at the same time running its normal operations smoothly. 50 of the buses have been commissioned recently, 25 are currently at the Tema port awaiting clearance, and the remaining 75 are on the high seas.
According to Mr. Awuku, to motivate staff and maximise the company�s fortunes, it raised salaries and wages by 30% with 2 month�s salary as bonus in 2010. Then in 2011 he increased the workers� salary by 27% with bonus; negotiations are currently ongoing to increase salaries again.
Mr. Awuku, in answering a question as to why he decided to purchase the TATA buses instead of VDL buses from Holland, claimed one VDL bus costs 200,000 dollars -- which can purchase 3 TATA buses at 65,000 dollars per bus with the same seating capacity of 60. Spare-parts for the VDL buses, he said, are very expensive to procure; hence the choice of the TATA buses, which are equally durable and parts easily accessible.
Commenting on the large fleet of grounded Chinese-made Yaxing buses, including the double-decker model at the company�s main yard in Accra, Mr. Awuku described the condition of the buses when he met them on assumption of office in 2009 as very deplorable. He quickly initiated a programme to rehabilitate the buses by inviting engineers from China to assess the condition of the buses and extent of the repairs needed.
The engineers came to Accra on three occasions and finally never returned again. Zoomlion Ghana Ltd. afterwards signed an MOU with MMT on the same issue but opted out. Mr. Awuku said he suspects there are complex engineering problems with the Yaxing buses. He said the ministry of Health (MoH) came to examine the buses and has managed to purchase 200 of them, and fully paid for them to be removed from the yard in due course.
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