The Group Managing Director, Harmony Holdings Limited, Mr. Tope Daramola, has said that the HHL has procured 42 new buses for the Kwara State Transport Corporation, popularly called the Kwara Express.

He stated that the injection of the new buses into the transport scheme was to improve the operational efficiency of the transport company.

In an interview with The Punch correspondent in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on Tuesday, Daramola said that the HHL had invested about N.5bn in the Kwara Express with the procurement of the buses and the injection of another N170m into the scheme to revamp the transport company.

"We got the 42 buses as part of the Federal Government's mass transit programme anchored by the Infrastructure Bank. Our partners, which also include Sterling Bank, provided corporate guarantee for the purchase.

"The injection of the 42 buses is part of the retooling of the entire corporation's operational modalities. We mean well for the Kwara Express.

It is not meant to be destroyed or killed. We will do the best to perform the mandate that the Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, has given to us, which is to make sure that we turn around the company. If you add the cost of the buses to the total debt of the company, the money is close to half a billion naira," he said.

Daramola said the HHL planned to make the Kwara Express a world-class transport business, functional, efficient and well managed.

He said that the transport company would also be able to add value in terms comfort and safety while travelling from Ilorin to other parts of this country and from other parts of the country to the state.

He said, "It is a company that will compete very well with its peers, even in the private sector. The brand name is there. The brand is strong. We have a lot of core staff members that are great assets to the company. We have the requisite knowledge and experience as they have been around for awhile.

"We will leverage on these assets and benefit that we know that are already there and bring other competencies from outside and from then be sure that this company becomes one of the best in the country. We have also integrated the e-ticket system into our accounting modules in such a way that as you are selling ticket, it will be appearing on our system so that we can know what money is going in and what is coming out. In the normal fleet management, we can track our buses, know where they are and have a fast recovery of the vehicles where there are incidents or issues."

The GMD said the HHL, which has been the supervising body for the Kwara Express since the inception, met a completely collapsed transport company allegedly due to mismanagement.

He added that the morale of the workers was very low as the company could not pay their salaries and allowances; neither could it meet its financial obligations to the state government.

Daramola said, "It was a completely pathetic situation. So, we brought our knowledge to bear, restructured the company into operational system and rejuvenated its basic assets.

"As of the time we got there, the bankers were already tired. They were on the verge of recovering and foreclosing on these buses. As a matter fact, as of the time we had contact with the Infrastructure Bank, they had concluded plans to go for repositioning with Sterling Bank. But we stepped in, restructured, and renegotiated these things. We are happy that we have remedied the situation that is why we are able to get loan for 42 buses."