The Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) has presented 83 buses to the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) under a hire purchase agreement.

The 33-seater buses were procured for the union in 2016, but members considered the cost too high to guarantee them any meaningful returns.

Under the current arrangement, however, the government has reduced the price of the buses by 53.5 per cent to make them affordable to the GPRTU members.

Previously, a bus was priced at GH¢705,550, but with the intervention by the government, it has now been reduced to GH¢328,000.

Speaking to Net2News after the presentation of the buses,the Chief Executive Officer of MASLOC, Stephen Amoah said when government assumed office, it realised that the price of the buses was exorbitant.

According to Stephen Amoah, the high price of the buses made it impossible for the GPRTU to acquire the vehicles for commercial operations, hence the intervention by the government.  

He reminded the beneficiaries that the buses were not for free and that the future procurement and release of buses for the union would depend on how promptly the beneficiaries paid for the current buses.

The presentation of the buses by MASLOC brings relief to many Ghanaians who were scandalised after revelations came out on a flawed procurement process for the said buses under the previous John Mahama government.

These buses were also said to have had their prices inflated by the previous MASLOC administration under the Mahama regime.