The recommendation was made to the Minister of Transport, Ricardo de Abreu, during the parliamentary hearing on the sector, held on Thursday, with the topic of the recent increase in the price of public buses being addressed.
“The price of urban transport has caused a lot of complaints from the population, which is why it was recommended that the sector communicate better”, said the vice-president of the Economy and Finance Commission of the National Assembly, João Mpilamosi, in statements to the press, at the end of the hearing, lasting more than five hours.
“And that the application, the change, of prices is in advance of prior communication and, if possible, that it is done progressively, so as not to affect citizens' pockets in any way”, he indicated.
In turn, minister Ricardo de Abreu reaffirmed, in statements to the press, that the increase in the price of public buses was due to the executive's decision to correct some prices in the economy, particularly fuel.
The price of public buses increased from the previous 50 kwanzas to 150 kwanzas, which generated some dissatisfaction among users, especially among students.
According to the minister, the cost of fuel is a fundamental factor in ensuring the operation of buses, so “the adjustment in public transport ends up coming in this sequence, to guarantee the sustainability of public transport activity”.
“The existing fare, at the time, was a very low fare, 50 kwanzas per trip, and we needed to correct it, because it hadn't been corrected for at least ten years,” he said.
The holder of the Transport portfolio insisted on the need for this correction, to achieve two objectives: on the one hand ensuring greater sustainability of public transport activity, and on the other hand ensuring that operators are trained, so that in a future phase, “they can be the to assume the responsibilities that are currently contained in public transport concession contracts”.
“It is obvious that the dynamics of the massification of types of transport with benefits already provided for in the law are also contributing to this, particularly for students, veterans of the country, former combatants, pregnant women and people with disabilities, which are currently provided for in the law a set of benefits”, he said.
The minister also said that the executive is accelerating the process of massification of the social pass for the benefit of these sections of the population.
João Mpilamosi said that other sectors should also be called to the National Assembly for parliamentary hearings, with the intention of hearing the ministries of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Industry and Commerce.
It is a process that has the support of the president of the National Assembly, he highlighted, and also the understanding of the head of Government, so “deputies have no difficulties regarding this issue of monitoring these sectors”, he highlighted.
