No Preference for MMT in BRT System

Frederick Asiamah
allAfrica.com


The Metro Mass Transit (MMT) Limited, which is partly owned by the State and became a 'messiah' for commuters trapped in long queues in many heavy traffic areas over the past few years, will not have any special role in the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system which is to begin soon in eleven Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.

Conversely, the MMT will not be discriminated against if its authorities decide to enroll in the new bus system by applying to operate on the new routes.

Under this regulatory system, MMT is like any other operator; MMT is like the GPRTU [Ghana Private Road Transport Union], PROTOA [Progressive Transport Owners Association] and so on. There will be no preference for any entity," Laud Allotey of the Communications Unit of the Centre for Urban Transportation (C.U.T) told Public Agenda last Tuesday.

The MMT has been facing depletion of fleet in more recent times, resulting from frequent breakdowns. The presence of the MMT on the roads in some urban centres, especially in Accra is diminishing.

Apparently, the MMT has now been focusing more on inter-city services. As a result school children are no longer enjoying the free bus ride introduced for basic school pupils as they should. Workers have also had to wait in queues for several hours in the morning and evening rush hours with the hope of catching a trotro (private commercial mini buses).

Many Ghanaians feared that the new BRT system was a rival, state run parallel system that will hasten the demise of the MMT given the politicalisation that has characterized its operations since being introduced by former President John Agyekum Kufour's administration.

But the C.U.T Communications Unit has allayed those fears, stating that the MMDAs involved in the BRT are supposed to undertake route registration and certify users of BRT routes for a period of one year. In doing so, the MMDAs are supposed to embrace all who apply and assess their applications in a manner devoid of bias and prejudice.

More importantly, the MMDAs are obliged to recognize existing transport operators.

Government will regulate the system and provide the infrastructure. Basically government will play the role of a referee, Mr Allotey indicated to Public Agenda. He emphasized: The private sector is supposed to operate; government is not going to buy the buses for them."

That notwithstanding, government will assist them by linking them with the banks to enable them secure loans (if they need to do so) for the purchase of the buses.

Public Agenda has been trying to find out from authorities at MMT how they are positioning themselves to benefit from the new system but our efforts yielded no responses.

The BRT is a component of the $90 million Ghana Urban Transport Project. The overarching goal of the Ghana Urban Transport Project is to improve public transport in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area by providing more and better public transit service to meet the needs of the region. Among the means chosen to achieve this goal are the development of a bus rapid transit system and the regularization of transit service throughout the region.

Eleven MMDAs have been selected to pilot the BRT and these include Accra and Tema metropolis, Ga East, Ga South and Ga West municipalities (all in the Greater Accra Region) and Kumasi, and Ejisu in the Ashanti Region.

The development of the system for takeoff in the Accra Metropolis has been divided into three schedules, according to Mr Allotey. The LOT 1 consists of the construction of a flyover on the railway line on the Graphic Road at a cost of $12 million. The work, being carried out by Edjis BcEom International, involves the construction of a bridge over the railway line and the widening of the bridge over the Odaw River.

The state newspaper, Daily Graphic, reported last Tuesday that work on the flyover project which started in January, this year, is now 50 per cent complete. It quoted the Resident Engineer of Edjis BcEom International, Mr Micheal Lear, as saying that the work would be completed in October, 2012.

According to him, there was an initial difficulty with the construction of the foundation because there was too much sand and water underground, but said "those challenges have been overcome and we hope to finish the project on time.

The second LOT involves the construction of segregated bus lanes from the Central Business District through Farisco (Adabraka), Graphic Road to Kaneshie First Light where the segregated lanes will terminate. From there the inner lanes of the existing three-lane road network to Mallam will be carved out for the BRT buses.

The third and final LOT involves the construction of bus stops, terminals and bus depots at Mallam. The bus depots are where the buses will sleep, Mr Allotey explains.

It is unclear when all these will be completed but some 120 buses are expected to be running on the route at scheduled times