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Government suspends collection of park user fees
Travellers at Namayiba Bus Terminal queue to board a bus to Mbale on Saturday. Many travellers remained stranded while some spent more than a night at the parks after failing to get transport to different destinations across the country. Meanwhile, government has suspended collection of park user fees for public service vehicles countrywide until January 1, 2021, as an incentive to operators affected by Covid-19. Photo by Ismail Kezaala.
Kampala- Government has suspended the collection of park user fees for public service vehicles (PSV) countrywide until January 1 next year as an incentive to taxi and bus operators affected by the Coronavirus pandemic.
The suspension will also be implemented in terminals or parks owned by private individuals.
The spokesperson of the Ministry of Works and Transport, Ms Susan Kataike, said they have written to the minister of Local Government to direct ensure that PSV operators are not forced to pay park user fees.
“The Works minister, Gen Katumba Wamala, was informed that some park managers in some districts such as Gulu and Soroti were still demanding for fees. He ordered that it stops immediately,” Ms Kataike said yesterday.
Park owners have been charging around Shs50,000 as park user fees for each bus.
Gen Katumba made the announcement while meeting a selected team of public transport operators at his office in Kampala City on Saturday. The meeting was also attended by the commissioner of Transport and Road Safety, Mr Winstone Katushabe, and Police Director of Traffic and Road Safety Bazil Mugisha.
Many parks or terminals are owned by private individuals or companies, who have been depending on the user fees collection to earn a living.
Public transport operators except those in border districts were allowed to operate on June 4 but were directed carry half the normal passenger capacity and also respect 7pm to 6:30am curfew.
This has cause chaos in the different parks as many passengers got stranded due to shortage of PSVs to transport them back to the villages.
According to Ms Kataike, Gen Katumba also allowed the public transport operators that had parked their vehicles in border districts to drive them to areas that are not under restriction and then operate.
“The minister is to meet with them today to finalise on the new route charts in areas that aren’t under restrictions,” she said.
Public transport operators also asked the ministry to give them a waiver on PSV licences since they are carrying half passenger capacity but Gen Katumba told them it is the Finance ministry that has the final say on this.
The operators, especially those with inter-state fleets, asked government to allow them bring their buses back to Uganda. Gen Katumba said he would first consult his colleagues in the Ministry of Health since it involves so many other issues such as quarantining the operators,” she said.
