According to the chairman of TCUL's Board of Directors, Catarino César, the company's current stability results from the investments of the last two years, made by the majority shareholder, the State, recalling that the company comes from a "not very good" history.
"But fortunately in the last two years, as a result of investments that the majority shareholder State, through the Ministry of Transport, made, we managed to move from a stage of some instability to a stage of greater economic and financial balance", said the official.
The company's strategy, before 2017, he recalled, was one of survival: "We had a set of constraints, from the operational area, a reduced fleet, high debts with the INSS [National Social Security Institute], some State bodies and with Providers".
"And they put the company in a situation of insolvency, we had regular salary delays, in short, these were very critical moments", he recalled, assuring that these situations are now part of the past.
In statements within the scope of the company's 34 years, marked on July 12, Catarino César said that after 2017 TCUL gained new impetus, especially within the framework of the strategy outlined by the company in line with the program of the Ministry of Transport.
"A strategy was defined to relaunch the company and since then the State has been making some investments with the purchase and delivery of buses to TCUL, we are talking about 153 buses, in 2020, and in 2021 more new buses, with the delivery of these means leveraged the company", he stressed.
The volume of business "increased and the instability began to emerge", because in the last two years it was possible to "overcome most of the constraints".
"We are saying that the debt we had with the INSS, which did not allow workers to retire, has been resolved, the debt that at the time was 700 million kwanzas in the last few days was paid 100 percent", he guaranteed.
"We have prepared processes for more than 180 workers to regularly retire, it is now possible with the volume of business and operating income to proceed with the regular payment of salaries", he maintained.
The settlement of TCUL's negative liabilities over the next two years, which will amount to around 3 billion kwanzas, is part of the restructuring plan of the state operator, whose administration expects to "maintain the pace of growth in business volume".
"We have a restructuring plan, with a set of forces that we have identified, to leverage the company and create stability in our accounts as well, because in recent years we have seen the need to carry out an economic and financial reorganization of the company and it is working" , noticed.
The indicators for the 1st quarter of 2022 give "proof of this", as in the projection "for the coming months also a large part of the debts" of the "high liabilities have been settled".
Catarino César also said that his management has a "permanent dialogue" with the company's union, which in recent times has been protesting for better salary and working conditions, noting that "some of their concerns have already been addressed".
"As a result of this dialogue, we think we will improve, not only salaries, but also working conditions, which in many cases we are still sure is not the best and we are improving", concluded the president of the TCUL administration.
