Niassa governor cancels bus tender

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Niassa governor cancels bus tender

8:57 CAT | 24 Oct 2018

File photo: Rádio Moçambique

The governor of the northern Mozambican province of Niassa, Francisca Tomas, has cancelled the tender for the allocation of buses to operate in the provincial capital, Lichinga, reports Tuesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.

The tender was run by the Provincial Directorate of Transport and Communications to select private companies to run four buses to provide passenger transport in the city. But Tomas regarded the tender as hopelessly flawed, and demanded that it be repeated, obeying criteria of transparency.

On Saturday, Tomas met with members of the Niassa Association of Road Transport Operators, and it was hoped that the buses would be delivered to the successful bidders then. But voices were raised in protest against how the tender had been handled.

For two of the four buses had been allocated to the President of the Association, Jose Gaisse, and a third to another member of the Association, who was said not to have provided all the necessary documentation.

The Provincial Director of Transport, Antono Mateus, tried to rebuff the critics. He claimed that the procedure was transparent and the results were public.

But he did not convince the governor or many of the other transport operators, and so the tender will be repeated.

Currently Lichinga citizens who do not own their own means of transport are dependent on motor-cycle taxis, many of whose drivers are unqualified. It is hoped that the buses will reduce the costs of transport in the city.

Source: AIM