MMT: Not all 400 buses are grounded
Audrey Micah, Ghanadot

Accra, Sept 2, Ghanadot - The Managing Director of the Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMT), Mr. Henk Visschers, has stated that it is untrue about media claims that all 400 MMT buses, delivered from China to the Ministry of Roads and Transport in 2006, have been grounded.

He admits, however, that quite a significant number, 322 buses, have broken down, majority of which are the Yaxing buses from China.

Reacting on Peace FM, the managing Director said, “We’ve a total of 942 buses. 400 of them are Yaxing buses from China, and its 322 of these Yaxing buses that are not operational,” he asserted in an interview on Peace FM’s ‘Kokrokoo’ this morning.

The MMT MD was reacting to today’s Daily Graphic’s headline story; “Down & Out, Metro Mass Transit Buses Grounded,” which sought to portray that all 400 MMT Buses have been grounded.

Throwing more light on the issue, Mr. Visschers maintained that the operations of MMT crippled along the line, owing to Engineering Application Problems including some manufactural defects, such as rampant breakdown of plugs, manual for operating the bus not in the English language and poor air quality in the car.

“We had no English Manuals. There was nobody available to give English training to our mechanics, and no English catalogue for the parts… it was somewhere in September last year or March this year, that when the Chinese came down they realized there were some engineering application problems, he explained.

According to him, this “was a big challenge” as they “did not even know the specification of oil to use and how the cooling system operates.”

Mr. Visschers was however, optimistic that the operations of the MMT will bounce back in full spring, with all the lapses corrected. He assured passengers who commute daily on the MMT buses of reliable and more efficient service.

Ghanadot