MP: Apec buses given to schools

 

March 16, 2022Main Stories

By LULU MAGINDE
NATIONAL Capital District (NCD) Governor Powes Parkop says eight of the 50 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) stage buses handed over to the NCD Commission (NCDC) have been in use as school buses.
“The rest of the buses were supposed to have been handed over to the NCDC to provide reliable, efficient and safe public transport.
“However, that never happened due to post-Apec changes in the Government,” he added.
Parkop was responding to queries why the stage buses had been lying idle since 2018 when the vehicles could have been put to productive use.
He said the eight buses provided support services to De La Salle, Koiari Park Secondary and Marianville as among the schools benefitting from the services.
Parkop said: “An agreement was reached with the bus manufacturer in China to keep supplying spare parts and help train our mechanics and drivers under the impression that the buses would go to NCDC.
“Now, the recipients are unable to maintain the buses because of the cost of operating and sustaining, which is a shame because NCDC has the capacity to do so,” he added.
The eight buses, in the meantime, are running free services to support the PMV buses at peak hours while also supporting school bus runs.
When asked why young students were still taking PMV buses to school every morning, especially if there are buses available for pickup, he referred to the Road Transport Authority (RTA) who have control over the city’s public transport.
“We (NCDC) do not have these powers and have been asking for the power to be decentralised to us, but the RTA and Transport Department has refused all these years.
“Last year, they finally agreed to allow us to operate eight routes, so we will be launching this service soon, starting with two routes.”
Parkop noted that at the end of the Apec summit (in 2018), the buses were donated by the Government to different recipients and only eight were given to NCDC.