No Value For Money

Government has consummated another wasteful transaction: committing so much money into a venture which would yield no returns defies logic and reasonableness.

With the consummation of a multimillion dollar bus import for the Metro Mass Transit from China, we have suffered yet another blow to our state kitty.

All we can do is whine in disgust as government spends $200,000 on a Chinese bus; and there are 200 of them we have learnt from a creditable source, are going to be for intra-city operations.

We have learnt about how other options were presented to government such as the importation of the Scania, but which were characteristically ignored, using the numerical advantage in Parliament.

It is regrettable that Parliament, which should have ensured the interest of the country in considering the subject, failed to do so, leaving us with the stressful thought of waiting for the arrival of buses the lifespan of which would not exceed three years. Just how each bus can rake in $200,000 within three years—given the state of our roads and the attitude of our drivers and other employees in the company—is something beyond our ken.

We wonder just why this incidence of money wastage continues after many opportunities have come for us as a nation to learn the lessons thereof. A country which is already at the threshold of the IMF seeking a bailout should not be seen to be exhibiting such unreasonableness in the management of her already abused financial resources.

One MP who is also a member of the Transport Committee of Parliament, lamented how his advice and admonitions by other colleagues on the Committee were not taken when the subject was being considered.

Having worked at the MMT before becoming an MP, he said he had the experience concerning an assortment of buses. Chinese buses, he said, are not the range of vehicles which can cope with the state of our roads, and should therefore not make the list.

Even workers of the company are said to have frowned upon the transaction because of their experience in dealing with Chinese buses.

Those with an interest in the transaction would not brook any opposition. That it has therefore gone to a stage of consummation is therefore not surprising.

Value for money has definitely not been a factor in the matter under review. We are told that the transaction involves the supply of spare parts for a limited period after which we wonder how the company would be able to cope with the challenges of wear and tear. These buses would join some over 300 parked at the terminus of the company for want of spare parts. When shall we learn?