Chinese Metro Buses are on the Road, but…

Contrary to reports that all the 400 Yaxing buses supplied from China for the operation of the Metro Mass Transit (MMT) service in Ghana have been grounded, times investigations have revealed that many of the buses are still in operation in many parts of the country.

The investigations further showed that except in Accra where the NEOPLAN VDL and TATA buses are commonly being used, many of the Yaxing buses are still running and transporting passengers in Sunyani, Takoradi, Koforidua, Kumasi, Cape Coast, Oda, Swedru and Tema.

What is true though is that, there is a raging controversy between the management of the MMT headed by Mr Hink Visschers and the Chinese engineers who have been resident here since March 18, 2004 purposely to ensure the routine maintenance of the buses.

Consequently, all of them have been barred since 2007 from entering any MMT facility in the country. At least one of them is still living in Accra but without working. The investigations also found out that the Chinese and the MMT management worked smoothly until Mr Visschers came in 2005 together with a new management and imported 50 units of NEOPLAN VDL bus. “The Chinese engineers were from this point prevented from entering to the yard, touching the Yaxing buses and supervising work at the MMT workshops or even participating in the maintenance and repair of the buses” a Ghanaian mechanic, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Times at the Kaneshie yard of MMT in Accra.

They are, therefore, unable to service the broken down buses and to provide routine maintenance as contained in two contracts signed between the Ministry of Transport and the Chinese company in 2003 and 2005. As a result, a number of the buses are presently grounded or cannibalized to service other buses are presently grounded or cannibalized to service other buses without the knowledge and input of the Chinese engineers.

The suppliers of the Yaxing buses, Yaxing Coach company Ltd of China, said the claim by MMT that all the 400 buses had been grounded was not only false, but also a ploy to brand the buses as inferior in order to discredit the manufacturers in the eyes of the Ghanaian public.

The company emphasised that, it had supplier over 2000 buses of the same model worldwide, including over 500 units to Angola, Sudan and Libya, and created huge wealth for those countries, but none of them had broken down like they are doing in Ghana.