A new fleet of buses that will serve urban and rural
commuters will be commissioned this week, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has
said.
He said this at State House yesterday during a special
Independence Day interview which the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC)
will broadcast this week.
The new buses are expected to complement the current
Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) fleet.
“I think by the Independence Day on the 18th, two days
before, on the 16th or 15th, I should be launching new buses which are coming
in.
“We saw that during the disturbances, these kombis were
taking advantage of the suffering people, raising prices left, right and
centre.
“Of course, we then instructed Zupco come in, but we have
now decided to bring in new buses to provide both urban and rural transport
with regulated prices that are fair and just giving enough remuneration to run
the buses,” he said.
The wanton price hikes, he added, showed that business were
out to get “super profits”.
But he noted that his administration does not believe in
price controls.
The President said: “With regard to the issue of prices I
made an appeal two days ago to our compatriots in industry and commerce that
prices are coming up but there is no justification in any way why the prices
are coming up.
“It’s just a question of perception, fear of the unknown
that we want to cushion ourselves today for possible challenges tomorrow.
“We don’t think that is the way we should operate. Last
time we had the same phenomenon of prices just being increased and I asked
captains of industry to come and meet me here as State House.
“We do not want to go to a situation where Government is
forced to regulate on prices. I am against the regulation of prices.”
The current fuel supply gaps in the market, said President
Mnangagwa, were being caused by the disproportionate rise in demand for the
commodity, which, however, wasn’t matched by corresponding increases in export
receipts.
“Our fuel consumption is now at two-and-half-times (more)
from the time we started the Second Republic.
“We used to have consumption of about 2,1 million litres a
day. So we are now at 4,6 or 4, 9 million per day. So the volumes have more
than doubled in terms of diesel; the same with petrol.
“But at the same time, our foreign receipts have not
doubled.‘‘We only have a 26 or 27 percent increase in our foreign
receipts, foreign currency earnings.
“So there is a mismatch between our foreign currency
earnings with the demand. That has come as a result of opening up the economy
and opening up business in this country.
“Time will come when industry and commerce will be
exporting more and more and the supply side and demand side will match. Time
will come, but at this stage there is a mismatch.
“We have to go through those things and it’s a challenge
that we are facing. I am happy that at least we are able to meet up to 80 to 85
percent of the fuel needs in the country,” he said. Sunday Mail
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