President of the Republic Kais Saied on Friday evening pointed out the urgent need to identify solutions to improve public transport services in the country’s various regions, during an unannounced visit to the warehouse of the Tunis Transport Company (TRANSTU) in Bab Saadoun.
“Public transport has become a daily ordeal for Tunisians, notably students, women and employees,” he said, adding that “some students have dropped out of school for lack of transport, especially buses.”
Saied underscored the need to provide Tunisians with a “decent and safe” public transport service, saying that “transport services in the 1970s were much better than they are today.”
The Head of State reiterated the need to “put an end to this suffering and restore a number of abandoned bus routes to facilitate the movement of citizens.”
“What is lacking to offer Tunisians a decent service is not the means, but rather the will,” he indicated, adding that administrative procedures and the law must serve the citizen and not “lobbies
working to destroy public transport.”
During his tour of the various sections of the TRANSTU warehouse, the President of the Republic saw dozens of buses out of use, which had ended up on the scrap heap.
“This is people’s money! millions of dinars are being thrown away at a time when citizens are suffering on a daily basis, and we wonder how the State budget can be financed,” the Head of State said, recommending that the scrap be taken over by the El Fouladh company and calling for better cooperation between public companies in service of the country’s interests.
During the visit, Kais Saied raised the issue of corruption within TRANSTU, pointing to acts of theft of bus spare parts and urging that all abuses should be combated.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse