The Transport Ministry expects to take delivery of 295 buses to enable the government begin the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.

Some of the buses will also be used to augment the number of buses at the Inter State Transport Company (STC).

Speaking to Citi News after touring the STC yard in Accra on Monday, the Transport Minister, Dzifa Ativor said her outfit is waiting for clearance from an audit agency, Crown Agents, on the value for money before it takes delivery of the buses form Scania Group, a Swedish automobile company.

“We are currently at Crown Agents for value for money audit and once that is completed, the buses will come down,” she said.

Out of the 295 buses, 50 will be given to STC while the Bus Rapid Transit will have 145 buses.

According to her, 10 prototype buses will be brought in immediately Crown Agents gives the clearance.

This is to allow drivers to be trained on how to operate the BRT buses and also get conversant with the routes they will ply.

“Ten of the BRT buses will come as soon as Crown Agents give us the go ahead because the prototypes have been manufactured already and that is what we will be using to train the drivers,” she explained.

Ativor said the government is “very, very anxious and once they give us the go ahead, everything is on course to deliver the buses,” adding that “the approval that was given us is about a $100 million.”

The BRT project was originally scheduled to begin in December 2014 but the government has now fixed March 2015 for the project to begin.

The project was introduced by government with support from the World Bank and the French Development Agency (AFD) and it intends to enhance mobility of Ghanaians  by ensuring an efficient public transit system in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area.