Tamale July 26, GNA - Mr. Ernest Debrah, Northern Regional Minister, on Friday took delivery of 17 intra-city buses at a cost of about 18.2 billion cedis to facilitate the movement of commuters within the Tamale Municipality. The buses are part of the government's efforts at easing transportation problems in cities and building road infrastructure to create an enabling environment for the private sector to become the engine of growth of the economy. The mass transportation system has already taken off in Accra, Kumasi and Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis.

Mr. Debrah indicated that the mass transportation system was not to put private operators out of business and advised them not to misconceive the gesture as a "rival set-up" to thwart the plans of the government. He urged the people to be proud of the status of Tamale and to keep the environment clean to attract investors and tourists to boost the economy. The Minister deplored the indiscriminate defecation and dumping of garbage in open spaces and called on the residents to refrain from the act. He said, "It is time the Municipal Assembly enforced the sanitation bye-laws in the city and I implore all landlords to build toilets in their houses".

Mr. Thomas Twumasi, Supervisor of the Mass Transport System in Tamale, advised commuters and drivers of the buses to handle the vehicles like their own property to ensure their long life span. He appealed to the police not to detain the buses with commuters on board when any driver violated road traffic regulations but to take their registration number and the license number of the driver to report later. In an interview with the GNA, some school children and market women expressed joy that the buses had been delivered with some of them shouting "aseie ho aseie ho" with the thumbs-down sign.