A Ranking Member of the Roads and Transport Committee of Parliament, Mr Governs Kwame Agbodza has suggested to officials of Neoplan Ghana Limited to partner private entities to revive the ailing company.

He said the country would lose hugely if Neoplan is allowed to shut down.

A memo issued on January 15, 2020 signed by the Managing Director of Neoplan, Georgia Nassar, explained that they would be shutting down operations in their various branches across the country due to financial difficulties.

“Management, regretfully informs you that Neoplan (Ghana) Limited will be closing down its branches on 31 January 2020. This is due to lack of contracts and recurring monthly losses incurred. As a result, all employment contracts with the company will be terminated as of the said date until further notice,” the memo said.

But speaking on Class 91.3FM News ‘505’, Mr Agbodza said the company being a minority shareholder cannot solely take a decision to shut down its operations without the consent of the government which is the majority shareholder.

He said the management should rather liaise with private entities to revamp its operations.

“First all, they cannot shut down because the government is the majority shareholder. The worst they can do is to say they are no longer interested because something [of which] I own 55% and you own 45%, who has got the bigger say? is it the 55% or 45%? I can see obviously there is a concern but it’s got to be dealt with in a way that inures to the benefit of the country.

“What has the minority shareholder been investing? What was the original agreements? Were they only thinking that government will be the only one to give them business? All these are the questions we need to raise. It cannot be that they were expecting government to be perpetually giving them contracts. So, they were only interested in waiting for the government to bring them juicy contracts; they must also look around. In today’s Ghana, there are more VIPs on the roads than Metro Mass buses. There are private people who are also operating transport business, they could also partner them,” he stated.