20 February 2008
Maputo — The two main fuel distribution companies in Mozambique, BP and the publicly-owned PETROMOC, are presenting proposals on exactly how private transport operators can benefit from the subsidy on diesel announced by the government in the wake of the riots that paralysed Maputo on 5 February.
The riots were provoked by an increase of up to 50 per cent in the fares charged by the privately-owned minibuses (known colloquially as "chapas") that provide much of Maputo's passenger transport. The government and the federation of Road Transport Associations (FEMATRO) agreed to restore the old fares, but in return there would be a fuel subsidy for the chapas.
A price rise of 23 January increased the price of diesel by 14 per cent, to 35.35 meticais (about 1.47 US dollars) per litre. The subsidy will bring it down to the pre-23 January price of 31 meticais a litre. But the practical mechanisms of how to operate this subsidy, so that only licensed chapas benefit from it remain unclear.
According to a report in Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", PETROMOC and BP met in Maputo on Tuesday with the chairpersons of all road transport associations across the country to try and find the best way to implement the subsidy.
FEMATRO chairperson Rogerio Manuel told reporters "we invited the fuel distributors to present sustainable solutions to implement fuel supplies under the subsidy announced by the government".
"We have called on all transport associations so that we find a decision that reflects a national point of view of the transporters on this issue", he said.
'In the presentations made by PETROMOC and BP, these companies suggested the sale of fuel using electronic systems (mobile phones or cards used in electronic banking) that, unfortunately are not yet available in all provinces. Thus, we asked those companies to try and find new models that may meet the concerns of transporters in the provinces where electronic systems are not yet available", he added.
Manuel said that the chairpersons of the road transport associations analysed for two days all the problems affecting this sector and also the issue of setting up associations.
"We tried to verify the matrix of issues and update it, because we are to start, on 22 February, discussions with the government on all problems we have in the road transport sector", he said.
One problem is that chapa owners by and large do not know how to handle money. Manuel admitted 90 per cent of them do not have organized accounts. But with the lack of accounts, earlier claims by Manuel that chapas are running at a loss cannot be verified. The absence of accounts also raises interesting questions as to how much tax, if any, these transport operators are paying.
"But these are the transporters we have in the country", said Manuel. "We must do all in our power to accommodate these transporters who are not yet organized, but who are transporting people. The fact that they have no organized accounts does not mean that they are not transporting people".
'We must help the operators, and then bring them to the reality of the business where they are operating and help them organise their accounts", he added.
He said that FEMATRO's records indicates that there are about 4,690 private vehicles operating in urban passenger transport, of which 3,690 are in Maputo and Matola cities.
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