In the wake of modern business, the big word SCRAP has brought up several meanings. That perhaps sums up the reasons for public misinterpretation of SCRAP which is one of the methods employed by auctioneers when disposing of vehicles, plants and implements which companies decide to dispense with.
 

No serious minded company dispenses with vehicles, plants and implements that have not served their economic life-span. Of course, there are a few instances where opportunists use their own selfish judgement to decide on certain vehicles plants and implements.
 

What the public does not know straight away is that serious minded companies have Committees and bodies who handle scrapping, and or auction. I still remember the title Board of Survey which the Civil Service used in the past. I hope it is still relevant today as I consider it a relevant stop gap for business.
 

Misinterpretation

A week ago, a Private Television Station sought to inform viewers that Metro Mass Transit Company, the nation’s flagpost public transport carrier had scrapped some of it’s buses (and in some cases sold them at GH¢70,000.00 each) what the presenter failed to do (unprofessionally) was that she did not give details as to the processes leading to the scrapping, besides being speculative on the cost of each bus, age and the number of buses scrapped (not sold) and the total earnings that accrued to MMT.

Process of scrapping

The process of scrapping brings to the fore quite a number of issues. First, is the decision to scrap, the reasons for it, who took that decision and who should auction it on the date fixed in the procurement tender advert in the media and how much each vehicle, plant and implement goes for.
 

Further, the presenter lost sight of which parts of the vehicle, plants and implements are on sale. The truth is that the process of scrapping entails removal of the engine, the glass windows, the seats among other parts, aside cutting the body parts to pieces for use by steel benders and builders of vehicles, after winning the tender bid. The GH¢70,000 mentioned in the media is only a paltry part of the total earning on each bus. Nothing can be more transparent than that.
 

Metro Mass Transit Ltd follows the same procedure, so let no one presume or assume that the buses scrapped recently are a portion of its current 1,048 bus fleet. Ghana’s Flagpost Public Mass Transit Bus Company cannot sell buses origionally bought at GH¢220,000 each today for GH¢70,000 per bus. The whole commentary is as false as it is most unprofessional. It is misleading as it is alarmist and inciting!
 

It is most interesting that some writers enjoy painting MMT black by such publications. As a former lecturer at Ghana Institute of Journalism, I don’t recall ever teaching former students to put up stories which create bad blood for individuals and companies at the centre of their publications. This is very regrettable indeed.
 

Metro Mass has all its doors open. As a national asset, all Ghanaians should make the effort to help save it from collapsing. All the 16 depots nation-wide are open to the public.

MMT’s scrapped buses

Buses that have been scrapped are mainly the Yaxin and Iveco type which were acquired in 2003 when MMT commenced business. These same buses have completely served their economic life span nation-wide. Whatever proceeds that accrued from their scrapping was only subsidiary and in no way a loss to MMT, because the scrapped buses have fully been depreciated. As in the words of the financial experts, an item of property, plant and equipment is de-recognized upon disposal or when no future economic benefits are expected to arise from the continued use of the asset. Otherwise that would be pushing good money into bad business. That is the reason new buses are acquired from time to time. Metro Mass for instance acquired 150 new buses from its internally generated funds.
 

Persons who continue to criticize Metro Mass are the same people who condemned MMT for packing those scrapped buses at the Head Office giving the impression that the same buses are under-utilised. Those buses are now dispensed with, making space for operational buses.
 

MMT runs not less than 800 operational buses daily now, and hopes to add another percentage of the repaired ones before Christmas. The new Board and Management are determined to turn things around in order to give MMT a solid footing in two years. Currently a new five-year strategic planning is in-the-offing that is one reason why the serial critics are being pleaded with to allow a truce while serious steps are underway to achieve what the same critics expect MMT to achieve.
 

Strategic role of MMT

MMT has been supporting the government pro-poor policy by:

• charging lower fares thus making transport fares affordable to the poor.
• influencing and stabilizing transport fares throughout the country
• running on routes generally considered unattractive and unprofitable by private transport owners, in terms of the state of road and patronage.
• continuously implementing the Free Ride for School Children in Uniform up to Junior High School Level (more than 12 million having been carried since 2013) the only proviso being at mandated bus stops.
   

Medium and long term objective

The medium to long term objective of MMT is to build a sustainably integrated multi-modal road transport that will complement the efforts of the government in building an integrated, efficient, cost-effective and sustainable public transportation system responsive to the needs of society, supporting growth and poverty reduction.
 

Metro Mass has come to stay, despite its challenges which are household to Ghanaians. This company shall remain committed to pursuing an organizational and operational improvement programme including re-training of its drivers (male and female), construction of modern transport infrastructure and inclusion of new technological tools in operations.
 

MMT is a national asset with a social mandate for the people. Support it to grow!