Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMT) is to create 4,000 direct employments throughout Ghana under its five-year Strategic Development Plan, Osabarima Ansah Sasraku III, Chairman of the newly constituted Board of Directors of the MMT, said.

He said the board would provide strategic leadership to ensure that the company’s market share, profitability, targets and outputs enshrined in the strategic plan were achieved. The Strategic Development Plan is from 2014 to 2019. Osabarima Sasraku was speaking on behalf of a nine-member board for the MMT after its inauguration in Accra on Wednesday.

He said the board would adopt good corporate governance practices to safeguard the interests of shareholders and stakeholders and would expect Government to continue to support the company in the acquisition of buses.

He said the board was aware of the strategic role the MMT played in the public transport system and it would endeavour to operate an efficient transport system to address the rising cost of fuel, compete favourably with other transport companies and make economic gains from its operations.

Osabarima Sasraku assured President John Dramani Mahama and Ghanaians that the board and management of the MMT would work together to grow the fortunes of the company to enable it to deliver on its mandate.

Mrs Dzifa Attivor, Minister of Transport, who inaugurated the board, said the Transport Ministry had a vision of creating an integrated, cost effective, safe, secure and sustainable transport system responsible to the needs of Ghanaians. Such a vision, she said, would support growth and reduce poverty as well as position Ghana as a transportation hub within the West African sub-Region.

“This vision requires that our boards are re-engineered to be able to steer the direction of the various agencies in the transport sector, ensuring that the policies and programmes are aligned to Government’s programmes in support of the Better Ghana’s Agenda,” Mrs Attivor said.

The Transport Minister entreated the board to ensure that the MMT remained focused on its principal mandate of providing intra-city services to help reduce congestion on the roads.

“Let us bear in mind that the welfare of the people is core to Government’s developmental agenda and the board must ensure that there was harmony among the workers to help achieve target goals,” Mrs Attivor said.

She raised concern about road safety and the rate at which some MMT drivers were involved in road traffic crashes, and urged the board to institute measures to educate the drivers to help reduce the carnage on the roads.

Mrs Attivor tasked the board to support management to adopt best practices to reduce revenue leakages and automate its operations to ensure the maximum use of resources. She appealed to the board and management to continue to invest in the procurement of new buses to reduce the burden on Government and its shareholders.

Mr Albert Kwami Klevor, Principal Consultant at the State Enterprises Commission, urged the board to work in accordance with the vision of the Transport Ministry and avoid individual parochial interests.

He also appealed to the board to add value to the operations of the MMT by establishing a structure of code of conduct and making it public.