Africa-Press – Angola. Nine thousand 460 taxi drivers and motorcycle taxi drivers licensed to carry out their activity, in Huambo province, are waiting to receive cards for exemption from the new price of gasoline, Monday.
The information was confirmed to the press by the director of the local Transport, Traffic and Urban Mobility office, Joaquim Salinga, when he was talking about the process of distributing prepaid cards to taxi drivers and motorcycle taxi drivers, which enable them to pay 160 Kwanzas for the liter of gasoline at gas stations.
The subsidy for taxi drivers and motorcycle taxi drivers is an exception taken by the Angolan Government, after raising the price of the petroleum product from 160 to 300 Kwanzas, last Friday (02), with the aim of ensuring normal circulation of people and goods.
According to the person in charge, of the nine thousand 460, there are nine thousand 281 motorcycle taxi drivers, 107 collective taxi drivers and 72 light vehicles, commonly known as “district circles”, which licensed their activities during the campaign carried out between April 27th and 30th of May of this year, within the scope of Presidential Decree n.o 20/18, of 29th of January, which aimed to cover all players in the sector.
He explained that the process of distributing the cards will begin shortly, assuring that all procedures by the National Transport Agency are in the process of being concluded.
Joaquim Salinga referred that as soon as the distribution process starts, the beneficiaries will receive their cards from the municipal administrations, where they carried out the licensing.
Meanwhile, he said, the Transport, Traffic and Urban Mobility office will work with organizations of taxi drivers and motorcycle taxi drivers in order to reassure their members so that they can continue to carry out their activities as normal.
“There is no reason for riots, as all licensees who are buying gasoline at the normal price will be entitled to the accumulated subsidy as soon as they receive the prepaid cards”, he said.
On the occasion, he deplored the attitude of some taxi drivers who own vehicles that run on diesel which, despite the fact that the price has not changed, tend to paralyze their activities, a situation that is conditioning the mobility of people and goods.
As for the trends of stoppages of activities and actions of disturbances, he said that he does not have the participation of the directors of the associations, who are unmarked of the registered actors since the early hours of today.
According to the official, the licensing campaign was preceded by the registration process, which allowed the registration of a total of 14,340 motorcycle taxis, 161 collective taxis (Toyota Hiace-blue and white) and 99 light vehicles, known as “Gira -neighborhoods”.
Despite having passed without embarrassment, Joaquim Salinga regretted the lack of adhesion of local operators of artisanal fishing in the free campaign, which had the involvement of 11 municipal administrations.
Campaign, within the scope of Presidential Decree n.o 20/18, of January 29th This campaign took place in one month in the 164 municipalities of the country, with the aim of massively licensing artisanal fishing vessels, motorcycle taxis and taxis , to better organize and control the activity, reduce the rate of crimes on public roads and discourage illegality, through a simplified and less bureaucratic process.
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