President John Mahama on Thursday held discussions with the senior management of the Scania Group, a Swedish automobile company, for the supply of public transport buses to the Intercity STC and the Metro Mass Transit Companies.

The discussions took place during a visit to the company, as part of the President’s activities, while in Sweden to attend the mid-term review meeting of the GAVI Alliance.

This was contained in a statement from the Flagstaff House Communication Bureau and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

According to the statement, the meeting was arranged by the Swedish Government through their Ministries of Enterprises and Foreign Affairs, to afford the President an opportunity to assess the various range of Scania public transport buses available and discuss the country’s requirements.

The President told the company’s officials that as government begins the implementation of a rapid bus transport system, it also intends to deploy a lot of public transport buses for intra city commuting to utilize the bus lanes, while making it possible for commuters to park and board buses from the outskirts of the major cities into the Central Business Districts.

The statement said with Intercity STC facing various challenges, President Mahama, who has already reconstituted the Board of the company, has promised to ensure that the management of the bus company is also strengthened and given clear targets to achieve.

“The supply of new, quality and passenger friendly buses will be a good beginning for the struggling company.”

The statement added that President Mahama had earlier held discussions with officials of the Swedish Government on a number of issues including urban transport management.