The President of the Republic, Mr Danny Faure chaired a meeting this morning to assess the situation in the aftermath of the fire which occurred at the SPTC Depot, Latanier Road and make decisions on the way forward to ensure that the operation of the Seychelles Public Transport Corporation (SPTC) is not affected as well as to guarantee the safety of commuters.

Present at the meeting was Vice-President Vincent Meriton; Minister of Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning, Mr Maurice Loustau-Lalanne; Minister of Habitat,  Infrastructure and Land Transport, Mrs Pamela Charlette; the Special Adviser to the President, Mr Hans Aglae; the Secretary of State for Finance, Mr Patrick Payet; the Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Policy Affairs, Ms Margaret Pillay; the Chairperson of the Board of SPTC, Mr Andy Moncherry and the Deputy CEO of SPTC, Mr Maxwell Julie.

The meeting was informed that SPTC has succumbed to a huge loss of equipment and spare parts for buses yesterday afternoon as the fire blazed through and destroyed the whole store where spare parts, uniforms, bus tickets and tyres, amongst other items, were kept.  Coupled with these losses, the whole IT unit and the SPTC telephone system were also destroyed.

While taking on the extent of the damage caused by the fire, President Faure pledged Government’s total support to SPTC and emphasised the need to ensure that SPTC passengers are safe.  Funds will be allocated from the budget for SPTC to procure for lost items.

A committee comprising of officers from SPTC, the Ministry of Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning as well as the Procurement Unit will be set up to ensure coordinated and speedy actions to address the urgent necessity for spare parts to be brought in from India and South Africa.

The Government is also liaising with its partner countries such as India and France for their support in dealing with the aftereffects of the fire.

To note, SPTC is expected to receive a first batch of new buses from India in the coming week and a second fleet in September, which will help in improving its service to passengers.

In closing, the President again recognised the collective actions undertaken by all the emergency services yesterday afternoon.