Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
THE latest consignment of 65 Zimbabwe United Passenger Company buses arrived at Beitbridge Border Post as Government moves to restore sanity in the public transport sector.
The buses arrived over the weekend and authorities are finalising the importation formalities.
By the end of the day yesterday, 20 Golden Dragon buses had arrived on the Zimbabwean side of the border, while others were expected late last night.
The consignment comes a few months after 70 buses arrived from China.
It is understood that the imports are the fruits of agreements signed during President Mnangagwa’s visit to the Asian country a few months ago.
According to border sources, the 65 buses were shipped in via Durban, South Africa.
“The buses are coming in batches and currently import documents of 65 buses are being processed by a customs clearing company contracted by the Government,” said a border official.
The Chronicle understands that more than 1 000 buses have been acquired from China and they are being delivered to the country in batches.
President Mnangagwa has since 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.
During a recent address while commissioning another batch of Zupco buses, President Mnangagwa said Government will continue to prioritise comprehensive urban public transport systems to increase convenience, reliability and comfort for the commuting public.
“In order to improve the transport service as I have said today, we are releasing more buses and the distribution will be announced by Zupco. Some are still at the port and some are still at the border but because of the challenges being faced by our population, both urban and rural, in particular the working population, we have decided to release the buses whenever they arrive so that we ameliorate the challenges of the transport system,” he said.