Transport Minister Brian Mushimba has clarified that only transporters of goods and commodities will be allowed to operate 24 hours under the revised night travel regulation, while passenger service vehicles remain banned.
Mr. Mushimba said he would on Monday sign a revised SI 76 of 2017 which will allow only trucks and goods vehicles to operate 24/7.
He was speaking In a voice recording he released last evening in response to a statement from Finance Minister Felix Mutati who revealed that Government will soon remove restrictions on night travel for PSVs.
“Revision to the SI 76 of 2016 is something that I have spoken about a long time ago. We are doing some work on trying to finish that revision and the revision was made clear from the onset that we are going to separate trucking from public passenger transport. The trucks will be allowed 24/7 a week to travel on the road by meeting certain conditions while passenger transportation, public transportation will stay restricted from 21 hours to 05 hours, Mr Mushimba said.
He said this is in a bid to support mining activities as well as uplift the country’s economy.
“This is what honorable Mutati spoke about and this is what I will be speaking about on Monday when I sign the actual revised SI and we are revising because we concluded a consultative process that was commissioned when the SI was signed,” said Mr. Mushimba.
“And also some other measures that we have put in place that have given us confidence that we can revise the SI this was so that the economy can be helped especially trucks going on the Copperbelt to support the mining activities, trucks coming from DRC bringing concentrates to our smelters in the mining area. Those can travel throughout the night, trucks carrying fertilizer, sugar, cement, those can travel throughout the day to support the economy. But the interaction of those trucks with passenger transport is what we felt should not be allowed and that is why the restriction on passenger public transport is still staying in effect until further initiatives kick-in to support the uplifting of that restriction. This is what I will be speaking to with the media on Monday as I sign the revised SI.”
Mr. Minister consider the buses too especially those coming from South Africa coming to the copper-belt. They running to beat the time and that pusses a danger too
The only solution to this problem is fitting PSVs with speed delimiters capped at 120KPH …why should a PSV full of passengers be doing more than 120KPH. These silly ministers have cost the country a lot of money with these reckless decisions….instead of reviewing the way PSVs licenses are obtained, incorporating more training ie Theory and Hazard Perception Test and they are busy issuing ill-thought outright bans; its clear that the ban didn’t achieve anything – they simply kicked the can further down the road.
These are the wasted years!!
We have idio.ts for ministers like this one tin Transport Minister Brian….he is proud to be constructing roads at more than $1million per kilometer yet those roads have no proper signage or markings…the only road in Zambia I have seen with proper signage and markings are roads leading to the US Embassy constructed by Americans.
These PF ministers are a mess. One says this, another drunk yap different. Do they have leadership?
Its chipante chipante type of leadership…these are wasted years, we are paying morons in govt hundreds thousand kwacha to joke about with serious issues!!
Kafue-Mazabuka road, a major ‘motorway’ in Zambia and an important getway to the Southern African markets is still a hell-run especially now in the rainy season. Why do we do things in reverse – sorry dununa reverse believers. Dununa Forward is about forward thinking. You first upgrade the major export routes with advanced road networks to those South Africa’s quality then think about allowing night travel for these trucks. This is the wrong time and this is what we term as poor planning. Where were you in the dry season?
Jay Jay you have a point speed limiters and also check the fitness of both the bus and driver!
Yama – most of accidents are head on collisions…which should tell you a lot!!
Young Educated Minister behaving like the same old corrupt people. Brian has lost it and it’s very disappointing to see such bootlickers.
Everything is shambolic with these empty tins even a simple message they can not read from the same page…I wonder how much revenue has been lost due to this silly night time ban on HGVs especially for a landlocked country like ours!!
You wonder where the leadership is in this govt, no one takes responsibility for anything….the President is more interested in his next flight. Do these thick fooools know how much this silly ban on night travel has cost Haulage companies?
We have *****ss for ministers like this one tin Transport Minister Brian….he is proud to be constructing roads at more than $1million per kilometer yet those roads have no proper signage or markings…the only road in Zambia I have seen with proper signage and markings are roads leading to the US Embassy constructed by Americans.
I knew Finance Minister sounded drunk and did not know what he was talking about. To start with Finance and Transport are two different entities. He did not know what he was talking about just like anyone else not in business. He just got a kama-rumour of some sort from only the devil knows and took it to the street.
Disaster!
It doesn’t matter whether he is minister of Toilets when it comes to reviewing SI everyone has to be on the same page as these issues are discussed beforehand in Cabinet meetings. I doubt it as well that most of these ministers have confidence in their Govt Spokeswoman who is only good at shouting and waving her hands.
Brian we were hoping that at last some brains in Govt but….alas..You see ,people would be happy if you went a step further and restored the transport network to what it used to be in ZCCM days with mining equipment was being moved to the mines through the railway line.You being copperbelt born and bred never saw the abnormal loads and trucks that frequent our roads since our economy went to the dogs. We need to think of ways to make our transport system safer and faster.The roads don’t have signs,no barriers,no lighting and our hospitals are poorly equiped to handle the accidents that have skyrocketed in the last few years.
They wont put goods on railway because they own a lot of trucks even Lazy Lungu is in the Haulage sector!!!
Is it the drivers who are not good at night or it the problem roads? What were the findings of the RATSA survey? A proper research needs to be done. The one of the best solution for night buses is 2 drivers per bus and secondly increase the wideth of roads. Most roads in Zambia are narrow just a little swerve you are in the bus. As you fly out of the country for whatever reason also look at how roads are made in those countries. DON’T BE STINGE TO SPEND MONEY ON GOOD ROADS
Night travel ban for buses has not been thought through adequately.
Head-on accidents will continue to happen even at noon.
So ba minister is it eye sight or tired drivers? Why not then check all driver for sight or introduce 3 drivers from nakonde, say,to kitwe?
You’ve inconvenienced travellers with your irrational action.
I agree with the Transport Minister. Comrades, let us Insult less and come up with issues that add value to our lives. Even though we may be diametrically opposed Politically. I love Z. Cheers!
Bwana Minister your thoughts are emotional and confused: you are saying trucks regarding mining activities can travel through out the night while trucks transporting consumables sugar, cement, fertilizer whatever can work through out the day. I doubt badly that this Minister knows what he’s conducting. Limiting passenger transport has influenced negatively on small holder traders. What initiatives are you waiting for to enable 24 h operations of all forms of road transport? SI is not personal to holder, stop harming livelihood.
The buses can also be allowed to travel at night but be given speed limit and penalty for not observing that speed. Actually what causes most accidents whether during the night or day is speed
What came first: Citizens or Cargo?
Clear to me that this regime is simply confused. The rights of citizens MUST be paramount over anything else. It does not make any sense that cargo trucks must prevail over the need to travel to various places by the citizens of this country. This is basically primitive and completely unconstitutional because the rights of the citizens are being placed secondary after cargo. I assume that cargo drivers will not human being with the same attributes as those of bus drivers! If they are with the same training, then why place bus drivers as being secondary? Why place the needs of citizens secondary after cargo? This is utter rubbish and confirms that all these guys in power are empty headed and are running a fruit farm for their own bank accounts.
Comrade Musamba, you are a young person who should be doing things differently. We told you right from the beninging to borrow Pres Zuma’s words that you don’t SI banning wheels of economy to sort out a problem tat has beckoning answers under noses. Chishimba Kambwiliat one point was asking for ideas from the general public and were implemented though he never acknowledged who contributed to those ideas not even by return email.
Please learn to consult before you go down as one of the Ministers who had poorest judgement. I know you for Mufken and you can certainly do better.
There is what is called fire fighting management. This is where you first wait for the fire to start and then start putting it out instead of preventing it before it starts. This is unfortunately how most African governments work. They first wait for the problem to get out of proportion and then start running around for solutions. PF govt is endemic of this problem and this brings me back to what Lungu said that he doesn’t have any manifesto for the country but we went ahead and voted for him. What did we expect? You reap what you sow. It is time we stopped voting on party lines when it come to the presidency. For now we are stuck with dununa reverse. I hope people generally have learnt alot of this experience we are going through.
i go along with most of those advocating for night travel to be reintroduced and government to put speed limiters on commercial buses. 120km/h will be ideal.