The government is being misled into believing the minibus taxi recapitalisation programme will work before it is tested, the Top Six Taxi Management said on Friday.
”There is no doubt that the government is being misled into believing the project will be implemented without a pilot run to test affordability, durability and sustainability,” said Top Six spokesperson Molefe Rapodile.
He said the Department of Transport’s broad-based consultative processes into the programme are being hampered by the government’s ”selective” consultation with ”a section of the industry under the guise of national taxi leadership”.
He also said Top Six is concerned about Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe’s announcement of a scrapping allowance for unroadworthy taxis before finalising specifications of the new vehicles, which will affect their price.
”It is therefore imperative that preparation processes are completed before tempting announcements are made,” said Rapodile.
He said it is also ”important that documents on the recapitalisation project be made available to the industry for transparency, as opposed to current privileged and confidential information”.
Radebe has announced that the long-delayed programme will be implemented from the beginning of the 2005/06 financial year, costing the government an estimated R7,7-billion.
The programme — first proposed in 1999 — will replace the country’s ageing taxi fleet, estimated at 97 000 vehicles.
Radebe said the initial idea — that automobile companies would tender for the manufacture of specific vehicles — had proved too costly for both the government and the commuters, and was therefore scrapped.
Rapodile said, however, Radebe made a ”right decision” in introducing taxi subsidies and scrapping the tendering process and capacity restrictions on the new vehicles. The organisation has also welcomed the budget allocated for the programme. — Sapa