Minister of Transport: He is waiting for an update on the date of arrival of fire fighting equipment

Until noon on Wednesday, he expects information from the companies on when the equipment required for automatic fire extinguishing on buses will arrive in Cyprus, the Minister of Transport, Communications and Works, Alexis Vafeadis, told KYPE, noting that on Tuesday the competent committee approved all the proposals submitted by the companies.

"Yesterday the competent committee had examined and approved all four companies' submissions. The good thing is that among them is also equipment that can be imported by plane, which means that its arrival will be shorter, but we will know the final news by noon", he said.

He noted that the situation remains the same. “We are waiting for approval of 29 buses of a certain subcontractor company, which have an automatic fire extinguishing system, but a certificate of good operation had to be submitted. Once we have that we will allow them to go into circulation," he noted.

The Minister clarified that until the mechanisms are introduced, the 570 buses will remain immobilized. He added that another 21 buses have arrived recently for the intercity routes and these are expected to be registered and put into service today or tomorrow. "Consequently, this service will also be improved," he said.

However, regarding the major problems with school buses and the basic service in Paphos, the Minister said that he believed there would only be an improvement with the arrival of the equipment.

Asked whether alternative solutions have been considered for the transportation of students, Mr. Vafeadis stated that all buses that can perform public transportation based on the terms of the contract are already in service. "Consequently we cannot locate any other buses," he said, noting that the companies have assured the Ministry that all buses that meet the specifications of the contract, whether they are their own, subcontractors or others, have been located and are using them.

Regarding the service to the students of mountainous areas, the Minister said that there is nothing new. “Yesterday the relevant agency spent the whole day approving the equipment to speed up the import process. Today I think he will start seeing the itineraries that have been left behind. However, I do not have much hope, because this work has already been done by the companies and they know our priorities for the mountainous areas. I think that at first sight they have done everything that can be done, but we will review it within the day", he noted.

Source: KYPE