PM chairs Cabinet meeting on Tunisia's public transport system

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Tunisia - Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani chaired a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday at the Government Palace in La Kasbah to review the follow-up to the public transport development programme in Tunisia, in the presence of Finance Minister, Sihem Boughdiri Nemsia, Minister of Economy and Planning, Feryal Ouerghi Sebai, Minister of Trade and Export Development, Kalthoum Ben Rejab, and Minister of Public Works and Housing and acting Minister of Transport, Sarah Zaafarani Zenzri.

According to a press release issued by the Prime Ministry, it was decided at the end of the meeting to mobilise the necessary funds for the urgent purchase of 300 new buses at an estimated cost of TND 170 million, to study ways of financing the purchase of the remaining 418 buses (out of a total of 718 buses planned for several years) and to authorise the purchase of 700 second-hand buses.

Participants also agreed to set up a technical committee comprising representatives from the Ministries of Transport, Finance, Economy and Planning, Industry, Mines and Energy, Trade and Export Development and the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT).

This committee will ensure coordination between the various parties concerned, particularly on technical and financial aspects. It will also draw up a national transport strategy providing for the transition to ecological and sustainable transport, which can promote the energy transition and reduce the consumption of hydrocarbons.

It was also decided to set up a permanent inter-ministerial committee, chaired by the Prime Minister, to monitor the implementation of decisions taken in the transport sector.

This committee will be composed of the Ministers of Transport, Finance, Economy and Planning, Industry, Mines and Energy, Trade and Export Development and the BCT.

During the Cabinet meeting, Hachani stressed that the government would work to find appropriate solutions to transport problems in line with the recommendations of the President of the Republic.

The meeting was also attended by Secretary of State at the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, Wael Chouchane, Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT), Fathi Zouhair Nouri, and CEO of the Société des Transports de Tunis (TRANSTU), Abderraouf Saleh.