Maputo transport company transferred to city

The Mozambique government has decided to transfer the management of the Maputo's public transport from Beira Public Transport Company to the city government.

The city's public transport system is overstretched and the city bus company, TPM, announced earlier this year that its Chinese manufactured buses have proved to be a failure.

The Chinese Yutong buses, which first started use in Maputo in 2007, all broke down in 18 months, appartently because they were not up to either the climate or the poor state of the roads in the Maputo area.

The publicly owned TPM says that is is now looking for a new supplier but will probably order less than 100. It already has some supplied by the Indian company Tata Motors.

TPM now also has a programme to convert old petrol and diesel powered buses to natural gas.

The idea is to use Mozambique's own supply of natural gas to fuel its vehicles but until recently there have been a limited number of distribution points. Autogas, the supply and distribution company, is now investing in the network and has five refuelling stations in the city, with another two planned to open later this year. It has recently completed a multiple fuelling station for city buses in conjunction with TPM.

At the beginning of June TPM bus drivers were out on strike for non-payment of wages in May.