Deputy Transport Minister Hassan Tampuli has defended the inauguration of Ghana’s first fleet of electric buses, highlighting the initiative as an achievement in the government’s ongoing efforts to enhance urban transportation and traffic management.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Thursday, November 28, Hassan Tampuli described the launch as part of a broader vision to modernise Ghana’s public transport system.
The inaugural ceremony, held on Wednesday, November 27, in Accra, was led by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
The event marked the unveiling of the electric buses as a pilot project under the government’s proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.
Bawumia lauded the introduction of the buses as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution to the transportation challenges faced by Ghanaians, particularly in densely populated cities.
Addressing concerns that the inauguration of the buses might be an election-year gimmick, the Deputy Transport Minister explained that the electric buses are just one component of a comprehensive ecosystem being developed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
The initiative, the minister noted, is deeply rooted in the NPP’s 2024 manifesto, which outlines an ambitious plan to revolutionise Ghana’s public transport sector.
“The inauguration of the buses is part of a framework that the government has put in place and if you have looked at the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) manifesto for the 2024 elections, you will find a lot of space in there and the whole idea is for us to have a very elaborate BRT system anchored on electric vehicles and so this cannot be an election gimmick.
“It is a whole ecosystem we are developing and this is just like a pilot of the whole exercise. Yesterday’s launch was to test the efficacy of the system that we have rolled out and ultimately, when we roll out the entire system, what we are going to do is to modify the BRT system to have dedicated lanes in the median of the roads and so we are likely to collapse some lanes.”