PAC question CTO productivity
Pauline Dikuelo | Thursday June 12, 2014 12:27
PAC members raised this issue early this week during a presentation by the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC), which CTO falls under.
MP Master Goya questioned the permanent secretary for MTC, Masego Thebe about the dumped vehicles at CTO offices around the country, noting that Maun alone has about 200 such. “Your Ministry usually returns lots of money, why don’t you use that money to repair these vehicles?” he asked.
While Thebe admitted failure, she said they have now de-centralised their transport sector and involved some private garages to help in this regard. She also said no facilitation has been done in terms of capacity of fleet management. MP Kentse Rammidi, however, expresseddoubt at the reliability of engaging the garages and he suggested that guidelines be put in place to ensure productivity and avoid government resources being exploited. He also asked the PS if they have achieved their vision of ‘a world class provider of services’.
“One of the new caterpillars that your Ministry bought, has been at Kanye for three months without being utilised, while they said they are waiting to get the spare part,” he pointed out.
In response, Thebe blamed her colleagues for being inefficient explaining that the issues between the regional head and the ministry sometimes hinder productivity. She, however, admitted that they have not yet achieved their vision but have been relying on plans and strategies to ensure they attain it.
Thebe said the government has come up with an initiative for each ministry to manage its own fleet, which she said the Ministry of Health has so far implemented.
“The government has taken a decision that each Ministry should manage and repair their vehicles, while CTO continues giving them the technical support. CTO will also assess all the vehicles before they are taken to the garages and when they come back,” Thebe said.
Thebe assured the PAC that they would take all the points that were raised into consideration and act onto them.
“I believe two years from now we will be competing with the best in the world,” she said. Some of the issues raised were about road unworthiness, too many accidents and the disappointing service at the Department of Roads Transport Services (DRTS).
MTC further assured them that they have looked at ICT, infrastructure, building skills and reducing tariffs to improve the efficiency and productivity in her ministry. She also noted that they have given themselves a timeline for this. Thebe said that discussions are underway to bring back the passenger train to curb accidents along the A1 road.