The price of chapa is going up in the metropolitan areas of the cities of Maputo and Matola, according to the president of the Mozambican Federation of Road Transport Associations (FEMATRO), Castigo Nhamane, in an interview to MZNews.

Decision taken! Until the first days of next month, the cities of Maputo and Matola will have a readjustment in the price of chapas, says the president of the Mozambican Federation of Road Transport Carriers Associations (FEMATRO), Castigo Nhamane, in an interview to MZNews. The readjustment is justified by the high level of operating costs. "You have to realize that this current tariff, has been in effect for more than five years. During this interval, there were several increases, and the last one (fuel) aggravated the financial situation of the operators", he explained. Nhamane did not give any figures, but he guarantees that the readjustment proposal is already in the Municipal Assembly Council, and should be approved within the next few days. 

A failed business deal

In the southern region with no margin of error, Mozambique is one of the worst countries when it comes to the passenger transport system. Many chapas operate in an advanced state of degradation and do not offer the minimum safety conditions. It is also a transport system that cannot meet the demand. This scenario has prevailed for many years and everything indicates that there are few solutions to solve the problem.

Castigo Nhamane, recognizes the problem, but states that "these precariousness are associated with the issue of the tariff, because the operator has no other way to improve, increase and renew the fleet if he doesn't earn enough money for this," he justifies.

Said in other words, the president of FEMATRO says that the precariousness of the transport system is due to the "symbolic" amount charged. "I'll give you an example, we have some Mozambicans doing freight transport who have their companies organized, with above 100 trucks, that's because the business is profitable."

This, according to him, is no longer the case with the urban passenger transport system. "In urban passenger transportation we don't have that. We charge a social fare. We don't have any transporter, businessman at a national level, with 10, 20 buses", he sustains. Recommending, however, that "it is necessary to find a mechanism that allows urban passenger transport to give money ′de facto′ so that the entrepreneur can invest, otherwise, the conditions will always be those," he predicts.

In urban passenger transportation we don't have that. We charge a social fare. We don't have any transporter, businessman at the national level, with 10, 20 buses".

Nhamane even drew an analogy with what happens in neighboring South Africa to substantiate the unsustainability of the plate business here in Mozambique. "Look at what happens in South Africa. From one stop to the other in South Africa it is 10 rands (40 meticais), the lowest price, but we here still charge 10 meticais," he says. Nhamane calls for direct government intervention to make the chapas business profitable. "It takes a very high exercise that has to be carried out by the government in coordination with the private sector until the middle ground is found to make this sector profitable."

FEMATRO's president goes further and says that no commercial bank will finance the plate business because "the test you present to the bank does not guarantee a return on capital."

The permanent challenges of the chapas

It seems that the country's chapas problems are endless. And every year they tend to get worse. The cry for help on the same subject comes from all sides. And not even the government can have a solution for it. "You know, this seems to tend to get worse every year. The way in which the "guys" are transported is inhumane," says a user of chapas, who is forced to get up at the crack of dawn every day in order to get to work on time.

The way the "guys" are transported is even inhumane," says a user of chapas.

Under FEMATRO's management there are about 300 buses and over 2000 thousand mine buses circulating in the cities of Maputo and Matola. "All these means are not enough to alleviate the transport crisis," confesses Nhamane. But the concerns of the transporters do not end there. There are also issues of the access roads and highways, which, roughly speaking, are bumpy and in terrible condition. "With the buses that we have today, if we had dedicated roads for passenger transport, the result would be different," he says, adding that "a bus from the city of Maputo to downtown Maputo, under normal conditions should take 45 minutes, but at rush hour, today it takes 3 hours because of congestion. "That is the problem that is up to the government to solve," he concludes.