At least 271 companies, including the only public transport company in Luanda (TCUL), are licensed for the urban passenger transport service across the country's 18 provinces, but many may be left without a license "due to non-compliance" with contracts, having advanced some examples.
The guarantee was presented this Tuesday by the Secretary of State for Land Transport, Jorge Bengue, pointing out cases in the provinces of Cabinda, where one of the operators licensed to transport passengers rented the means to an oil company, and in the northern and southern Lundas , east of the country, where operators rented their resources to mining companies.
"These are activities outside the scope for which they were licensed by the respective governments. In short, there are many companies whose licenses to carry out their activities will be withdrawn in the coming days by their respective provincial governments due to non-compliance with the contracts they have with the provincial governments", assured.
The withdrawal of the respective licenses, he argued, "is also a requirement of the regulatory body, which is the National Land Transport Agency, which has precise recommendations to remove non-compliant operators from carrying out their activity".
Jorge Bengue presented the Angolan Transport and Logistics Sector Expansion and Modernization Program, and reported that between 2019 and 2024, a total of 1991 buses were distributed across the country, as part of the expansion of public transport.
Luanda, with 1009 buses, absorbed the largest number of means, followed by the provinces of Benguela (120), Huíla (113), Huambo (95), Uíje (79) and Cuanza Norte (69). Cunene, Cuando-Cubango and Bengo with 32 buses each were the provinces that received the lowest number of vehicles.
The government official, who did not highlight the Government's overall investment in making these resources available, however, pointed to the need for continuous renewal of the bus fleet, considering this to be a mission of the operators licensed for this purpose.
"Fleet renewal is a natural investment that the operator must make, they must make the investment to increase the fleet", he insisted.
The Secretary of State for Land Transport also revealed that in 2022, 195.2 million passengers were transported by the country's urban services, a number that reduced to 182.9 million in 2023, highlighting the importance of this segment.
In relation to the railway transport subsector, he highlighted that 17 kilometers of the railway branch connecting the Luanda Railway (CFL) to the António Agostinho Neto International Airport have already been built, 10 modern CFL trains have been acquired and that construction and modernization of the four CFL stations.
Among the ongoing actions and perspectives, within the scope of the National Development Plan (PDN) 2023-2027, the government official highlighted the interconnection of the country's three railways, namely CFL, Caminho de Ferro de Benguela (CFB) and the Moçâmedes Railway (CFM) along the southern corridor.
The measure aims to "further enhance transport logistics, increase activity efficiency and boost business growth and access to new markets", he concluded.
