Government seeking reform of TMCEL and LAM

The Minister of Transport and Communications, Mateus Magala, made this pledge on Thursday in Maputo, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Coordinating Council of his Ministry.

According to the minister, who rejected privatization of the two companies, an analysis of reform mechanisms is underway and “just yesterday, I received the preliminary report. By the first quarter of 2023, we will have a solid basis for the two companies, so that they can emerge from their current gloomy situation.”

In light of the public debate regarding the privatization of both companies, Magala argued “I never said that we are going to privatize these companies. What I said is that if you want to make good reforms, you cannot exclude the worst options. In this case, all options should be put on the table. You don't privatize a public company at will, you need consensual debates, and it is not true that privatization is the cure for all problems.”

The minister also revealed that the government will implement a programme to train transport operators interested in formalizing their activities so that they can pay taxes and other fees prescribed by law.

“We want to provide training to transporters on how to formalize an informal business”, Magala said. “We have to create mechanisms for managing this process, taking into account financial management and human resources”.

Magala also called on private operators not to abandon their activities late at night, or during rush hour, because these “are agents and partners focused on providing transport to the citizen. We are all in a problem-solving phase.”

As a way to respond to the shortage of transport at night and at rush hours, the minister said that the government, together with the private sector, is coming up with a solution consisting of introducing more buses on the main problem routes.

“In order to minimize the problems, we have already launched a tender for articulated bus operators. Around twenty of these buses will first operate on six routes”, Magala said, acknowledging that “If the State does not seek additional mechanisms, we may see an increase in transport fares.”

For his part, the Chairperson of the Mozambican Federation of Road Transporters (FEMATRO), Castigo Nhamane, said that the government must come up with other flexible alternatives to normalize the activity of the transporters, as this is the last month of receipt of subsidies injected to hold back the rise in fares.

“Since the subsidy ends this month, the government must find other methods of financing the transporters. If it does not happen, the fares can be increased. The subsidy issue is the government's idea. Our position is that the fare should be increased”, Nhamane stated.

“We are waiting for the government to make a statement. Either the fare is increased or the government itself finds a way to continue subsidizing the transporters”, Nhamane stressed.

(AIM)