A meeting is being held by a three-member committee of experts, in the presence of the Fire Service, which will evaluate the automatic fire extinguishing systems that companies have in Cyprus and how much they are suitable for use, said the Minister of Transport, Communications and Works Alexis Vafeadis, who at the same time, he stated that despite the instructions he had previously given, students in mountainous areas have not been served, after the buses that do not have a fire extinguishing system were stopped.
In particular, when asked to state whether the automatic fire extinguishing system for buses has arrived in Cyprus, Mr. Vafeadis said that he expects "within the next hour to be informed when it will arrive", while he noted that the Cypriot market also has some systems. but these must be approved."
"A three-member committee of experts has been established and at the moment there is a meeting of the committee, in the presence of the Fire Service, to evaluate the submissions of the companies that have such systems," he said, adding that "we will have to see that these systems are suitable for use".
Asked whether an investigating officer has been appointed for the matter, Mr. Vafeadis said that the General Director of the Ministry, Antonis Koutsoulis, has undertaken to appoint the investigating officer and the terms of his mandate are expected to be clarified.
Asked how many buses the system would be installed on, the Transport Minister said the installation of the systems "will be done on all the buses that have been immobilized", which number around 570.
He added that there are 29 buses that have a fire extinguishing system, "but we are waiting to be given a certificate of good operation of the system".
He said that "once this certificate is submitted, the 29 buses will be put into traffic" and added that after the grounding of the 570 buses, about 500 buses are in traffic.
When asked whether students in mountainous areas have been served today, Mr. Vafeadis told KYPE that "there are students in mountainous areas who have not been served, even though we had given instructions to give priority to these students."
Asked whether the renewal of the bus fleet will also include electric buses, the Minister said that "each company buys at its own choice the buses it will use according to the terms of the contract" with the state.
"The terms of the contract do not oblige them to be all electric", he said and added that "some brought, by choice, electric".