By CHATULA KAMPO –

THE Copperbelt Provincial Administration has given a 30-seater Higer bus valued at K270 000 to the Public-Private Drivers Association (PPDA).

The bus is part of the Government empowerment programme for public drivers countrywide.

Recently, Government through the Minister of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications procured 10 buses to be loaned out to public drivers as a way of empowering them.

The buses that have since been dispatched to all the provincial centres are on a pilot project and Government would procure more buses as soon as the current project thrives.

Presenting the bus yesterday at the Broadway Bus Station in Ndola, Copperbelt Minister Mwenya Musenge said Government’s promise of empowering public drivers had come to reality.

Mr Musenge said Government would procure more buses to be loaned out to individual drivers.

“We want drivers to stop paying loans for their bosses. Government has come up with this project in order to assist our drivers and reduce poverty levels in the country,” he said.

He, however, urged the association to ensure that they use the bus for the intended purpose and expand their businesses.

The association’s acting Copperbelt general secretary Wasa Samutumwa commended Government for bringing the initiative.

He said the bus would help the association to expand and empower drivers with funds and that provision of new buses would allow the associations reach out to remote areas in the provision of transport and communication.

Mr Samutumwa said his association had engagement the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) and the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) to equip drivers with road safety and entrepreneurship skills respectively.