Private transporters set to start work

Harare (New Ziana) – Government is expediting the enactment of regulations to give effect to its recent decision to liberalise the public transport sector as it moves to improve the urban mass public transport system, a Cabinet Minister said on Tuesday.

After a two-year Covid-19 induced hiatus, President Emerson Mnangagwa announced over the weekend that private transporters would be allowed back on the road to ply urban routes, but only after the gazetting of regulations that will govern their participation in the public transport system.

Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said private transporters wishing to participate in the urban mass public transport system would need to obtain operating licences first, among other requirements to be announced by the Government in due course.

Cabinet had received a report from Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo on the prevailing public transport situation.

“Government is in the process of coming up with relevant regulations to enable liberalisation of the public transport sector these will include the licensing of operators for any given route. The regulations will go a long way in alleviating the plight of urban commuters,” she said in a post-Cabinet Briefing.

“Government takes this opportunity to assure citizens that it has the travelling public’s interests at heart and will expend all efforts to ensure that the situation is expeditiously ameliorated.”

President Mnangagwa’s decision to allow private transporters back on the road follows transport woes experienced over the past week that were triggered by the withdrawal of buses and omnibuses plying urban routes under the ZUPCO franchise.

On top of allowing the return of private players, the Government has also committed to purchasing more ZUPCO buses, and has reviewed hire fees for private buses under the ZUPCO franchise.
New Ziana