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Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Reporter

BULAWAYO is set to receive new Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) buses following the arrival of 65 more into the country through Beitbridge border post at the weekend. 

The development comes a few months after 70 buses arrived from China, as the Government moves to restore sanity in the public transport sector.

Zupco acting CEO Mr Everisto Madangwa said in an interview yesterday the buses were still going through clearing and registration for the consignment.

“We have a new batch of buses coming in and a number of them will be coming to Bulawayo. We hope that this new batch will further help to ease the transport woes and complement our existing fleet. The buses are still going through customs and clearing and we hope that they will be on the road by next week,” he said.

Mr Madangwa could not disclose the number of buses that will be dispatched to the city, but said that they will be equally distributed across the country.

“As always, we equally distribute the resources that we get across the country, including fuel. So, buses will be coming and they will be distributed across the country,” he said. 

The bus imports are among the the fruits of agreements signed during President Mnangagwa’s visit to the Asian country a few months ago.

President Mnangagwa has reaffirmed Government’s commitment to ease transport challenges by availing reliable and affordable transport to the people in line with a vision to create an upper middle-income economy by 2030. However, erratic fuel supplies in the country have, from time to time, disrupted the Zupco service which is more popular among commuters as it is more affordable and reliable than private transporters’.  The latest disruption  in Bulawayo was on Wednesday this week when Zupco was grounded as a result of the fuel shortage. 

Zupco Southern Region Manager Mr Tinaye Rwasoka, in a statement to Chronicle yesterday, said the state entity was facing acute fuel challenges, hence unavailability of buses on some routes over the past few days. 

“There are diesel challenges in the country. We are busy to make sure the situation normalizes soon. We are sorry for inconveniences caused to our valued customers,” he said. 

Mr Madangwa said the company needs 500 000 litres of fuel per week and has been struggling to meet demand due to the prevailing fuel shortages. He said 10 000 litres had been allocated for Bulawayo but the delivery was only enough for a single day’s service. 

“We need 500 000 litres fuel every week for our operations. We are working to ensure that our customers get their service on time and we will be availing more buses we were just imported. The fuel and other resources that we are getting, we are equally sharing them across the country. We got 10 000 litres for Bulawayo to bridge the gap of a truck that had delayed arriving,” he said. — @andile_tshuma