With 15 days left to the deadline of having all public transport vehicles installed with speed governors, the Rwanda Association of Passenger Transporters (ATPR) says the gadgets will be installed within the agreed timeframe.
With 15 days left to the deadline of having all public transport vehicles installed with speed governors, the Rwanda Association of Passenger Transporters (ATPR) says the gadgets will be installed within the agreed timeframe.
ATPR president, Olivier Nizeyimana, has said that public transport companies have started fixing the speed governors and that the "process won’t take long for all the 1500 vehicles under ATPR to have speed governors.”
"We have since been in talks with several entities and as we head for a major breakthrough, two companies have so far installed speed governors,” said Nizeyimana.
The two companies are Citi Express and Capital Tours Express.
Fixing the devices is part of enforcing the February 2015 Presidential Order relating to installation of speed governors into public transport vehicles and other commercial vehicles.
Following the release of the presidential decree, Rwanda National Police, the Ministry of Infrastructure, RURA and transporters met to discuss the implementation of the Order, which culminated into theDecember 15 deadline.
Vehicles equipped with the device observe the 60 kilometres per hour maximum speed.
After expiry of the deadline, those without speed governors risk being penalised, according to Supt. Jean Marie Vianney Ndushabandi, spokesperson for the Traffic and Road Safety department.
Supt. Ndushabandi explained that Police is currently embarking on sensitizing transport agencies to install the devices before punitive measures are imposed.
"We want them to take the lead in ensuring that all their member agencies have installed the devices before we can come in to reinforce or penalize defiant members,” said Ndushabandi.
In a recent interview with the media, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Valens Munyabugisha, said operators won’t have any excuses for failing to meet the deadline.
"The Police have been conducting several meetings with heads of all transport agencies and cooperatives. If the deadline is not met, motorists will face fines,” he said.