The Managing Director of Neoplan Ghana Limited, George Nassar has said government officials will meet shareholders of the company on Friday, February 7, 2020, to discuss a revival strategy for the struggling company.
Neoplan Ghana announced a planned shutdown last month due to lack of contracts and mounting losses.
Government’s intervention helped to stop the planned shut down, with the promise of revamping the firm.
In an interview with Citi News, George Nassar was hopeful that the scheduled meeting between the company and government on Friday will yield positive results.
He indicated that “we are in the process of discussing solutions along with the majority shareholders. I am supposed to meet them tomorrow. Next week we’ll have some concrete information.”
Management of the Neoplan Ghana Limited had earlier commended the government’s effort to help revive the struggling company.
The company was scheduled for closure on Friday 31st January 2020 due to lack of financial support and contracts.
But for the intervention of the Ministry of Trades and Industry, the company would have been defunct by now.
The Ministry subsequently asked management of the firm to hold on with its scheduled closure as it finds a lasting solution to the issue.
Background
Neoplan Ghana’s decision to close down the firm was influenced by the inability of the minority shareholder, the Fadoul Group, to continue funding the company on its own, while the government had stopped performing its duties as the majority shareholder.
Workers of Neoplan, complaining about the state of the company for years now, expressed fear of being laid off following this decision to shut down the firm.
Chief Accountant of the company Samuel Eghan disclosed that the company should have been shut down a long time ago but for the reason of retaining their workers for future contracts since they still had hope of receiving new contracts.
During the almost 46 years of its existence, Neoplan Ghana Limited has built over 4,000 buses for the government, which has 55 percent majority stake, to support the transport sector.
In its heyday, the company gave employment to hundreds of Ghanaians and also offered one of the best options for road transport passenger vehicles.
