Transport Federation of Angola calls for good roads to improve mobility

The president of the Federation of Road Transport Associations for Passengers, Goods and Related Products (Fatropma) considered this Friday that the mobility problem in the country, with a focus on Luanda, is due to improved road infrastructure.

Antonio Martins told Lusa that the newly created federation is an integrated platform where members can express their concerns.

According to António Martins, there were only two associations in the transport sector a few years ago, but their number has grown to include at least six associations and more than ten cooperatives.

Asked to comment on the entry into force of the social pass, President Fatropma said it was welcome as it has a social function, benefiting the most economically needy people.

“The entry into force of the social pass is welcome if it meets the goals of its creation, because its implementation has been expected since June 2022,” he said.

This week, the Angolan government approved a joint executive decree from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport to regulate social passes and transport rights for use in the public passenger transport system.

The introduction of the Social Public Transport Pass, a fare-subsidized public transport ticket that benefits eligible users, was supposed to take effect in 2022, but it hasn’t happened.

Antonio Martins stressed that in the recent past, Luanda’s state-owned Urban Collective Transport Company (TCUL) “already used the social pass for its users, and its acquisition received a lot of support.”

“We will wait for the methods and models of its supporters in order to draw conclusions about this later,” he stressed.

Regarding the problem of mobility in Angola, mainly in the capital Luanda, President Fatropma said that the solution lies in the creation of “acceptable road infrastructure for safe and smooth movement.”

“Now the concern of the federation is the restoration or construction of roads of national importance, main, secondary, tertiary, access roads and highways, exclusive corridors for the means of transporting passengers,” he stressed.

“Today we see a flow of passengers waiting for these funds at our bus and taxi stops, because the funds flow at a small commercial rate, if we had these traffic routes, the problem would clearly decrease,” he noted.

When asked if the floods are not due to the lack of buses, António Martins replied that, in his opinion, the problem is “not that”.

“Because the Minister of Transport at Café Cipra said that urban passenger transport operators, buses, many of them only put into circulation 50% of their fleet, it is not known why, whether it is because of a problem with roads, or because of another situation,” he stressed, calling for verification of those who have the right to do so.

Last year, Angola’s Transport Minister Ricardo de Abreu, quoted by Jornal de Angola, said Luanda’s public transport fleet was increasing, adding that around 650 buses were available and running at the time, anticipating that by June or July 2022 their number will reach almost 800.

According to António Martins, “roads are the concern of the operators at the moment”, saying that the federation now created, in its initial program, visits all associations to diagnose the sector, taking into account the difficulties and limitations.