Passengers lining up to board on of the buses
Bosses of grounded Pioneer Easy Bus Company have vowed to resume operations by the end of January 2014 the earlier their woes with Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and the central government are sorted.
Uganda Revenue Authority last Friday allowed 99 Pioneer buses to resume operations for the first time in 10 months after reaching an agreement over tax arrears although the bus company has been allowed to resume business immediately but John Masanda, one of the directors, has said: “Hopefully, we shall resume business before the end of January. We are in talks with Government officials and we are lobbying for the contract to be signed and implemented.”
The Pioneer buses legal officer, Ms Rebecca Athieno had however earlier revealed to reporters that they would hit the road early 2014 —probably if late in March. She said there are pending issues, including designated routes to be resolved with Kampala Capital City Authority which manages the capital.
But Masanda insists that if these issues are not resolved quickly, the bus company may fail to deliver on its payment schedule as agreed with URA with whom they agreed to pay between Shs270m and Shs300m monthly within 24 months — and that schedule in our view is enough to clear the outstanding tax arrears of Shs8 billion.