The Management of Intercity State Transport Company is confident the 3rd October auction of their properties will not take effect. The STC, SNNIT and the Transport Ministry are currently renegotiating with Prudential Bank on how best to settle the seven million Cedis owed the bank. SNNIT, which owns 80 per cent shares in STC is also majority shareholder of Prudential bank. According to the Communications Manager of STC, Cyrus De-Graft Johnson, "If the Director General of SNNIT comes out to say that he can put his life on the line to say that the auction is not coming off, we are quite confident that, that particular action will be stayed and we will find a way to deal with the debt situation so the company can continue to exist." The STC has been unable to pay its debts because the transport company is cash-strapped; a situation they blame on the reduction of number of buses. Joy News has learnt STC at present is in possession of about 47 buses of which only about 20 are operational. The rest have broken down. Other factors blamed on the near collapse of STC are consistent change of managers, unacceptable attitude of staff who work directly with customers as well as operational difficulties such as not adhering to departure times. Mr. De-Graft Johnson said until today, the company's operations to neighbouring Ivory Coast had grounded to a halt due to closure of the Ghana-Ivory Coast border, trapping 4 buses at each side of the border. "We just got information that finally a go ahead has been given to our buses that were stuck at the Elubo side to move into Ivory Coast. We are very grateful because it was going to really affect our operations and revenue". The Workers Union of STC has meanwhile sent a resolution to the presidency to step in and salvage the situation. The resolution dated September, 20 states the transport company is indebted to the tune of 43 million Ghana Cedis to various banks and institutions including National Investment Bank. According to the resolution, the loan obtained from Prudential bank was used to purchase FAW buses which started breaking down within two weeks of operations. The workers, who say they have not received salaries for the past three months, blame management under the leadership of then STC Board Chairman, Stephen Sekyere-Abankwa who was also Managing Director of Prudential Bank, for not exercising due diligence in the transaction. They want government to investigate the transaction and also revamp STC by injecting capital and restructuring their operations. They would also settle for a capable private company with the capacity to re-organise the company as an alternative to closing down outright. Mr. De-Graft Johnson told Joy News over 16 private companies, both foreign and local, have already indicated interest in running STC.