Government privatises transport management and opens space for new tariffs

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Government privatises transport management and opens space for new tariffs

11:33 CAT | 18 Jul 2017

O País / Vehicles with a capacity of less than 28 places will stop circulating in the centre of Maputo

The government intends to initiate a new era in the management of urban transport in the Greater Maputo metropolitan area, comprising Maputo, Matola, Boane and Marracuene, with a public tender launched yesterday to find concessionaires for the management of three major road corridors.

The first corridor will link Maputo to Boane, Mozal and Tchumene. The new management entity will control 60 to 70 percent of the market and will have to guarantee that at least 183 buses circulate.

The second corridor links Maputo and the Infulene and Machava Socimol areas, passing through Joaquim Chissano Avenue, and the winner will have to provide a minimum capacity of 96 buses.

The third corridor links the capital to Marracuene via Maputo Ring Road and through part of Avenida de Moçambique. The terms of reference stipulate a 60 percent concession and a minimum of 20 buses.

“These concessions will make it easier to coordinate operations. There are predefined schedules that the concessionaire must operate, and better coordination of issues related to the tariff, among other things. At the end of the day, this will constitute added value for the user,” the Ministry of Transport and Communications’ Simão Mataruca said.

Councillor for transport in Maputo João Matlombe said that, under the new regime, vehicles of up to 15 and 28 places would stop circulating from the periphery to the centre of the city and would only operate from remote areas to the main terminals on the periphery. From there, only buses with a capacity of more than 60 seats would be allowed into the centre of the city.

“To give one example: today, in the EN1 corridor, we have demand of more than 150,000 passengers per day. To meet this demand with vehicles of 15 seats would be impossible.”

The corridor concessions will be accompanied by the allocation of 200 buses to Maputo and Matola, out of a total of 300 that the government has undertaken to acquire to supplement passenger transport in the country’s main cities.

The submission of proposals closes on 17 August. Fifteen days later, the authorities will appoint the three winners, who will then begin mobilising for the operation.

Source: O País / AIM Moçambique