The poor fleet of Havana buses will have a facelift thanks to the donation of 84 Japanese buses whose arrival is scheduled for this Thursday on the island.
The Cuban ambassador in Tokyo, Miguel A. Martínez, advertisement on social media that the vehicles left Colombia on January 9, where they were assembled by the Busscar company thanks to an agreement with Itochu Corporation and Isuzu Motors. According to official documents, the amount of the donation is about $ 9 million.
The shipment is part of the non-refundable financial aid, one of the sections of the agreements that Japan has had with Cuba since 1961. In this case, the buses belong to the program of economic and social development in its Transport section, which plans to take advantage of the “technological superiority of Japan” to help improve and maintain infrastructures of this type.
At the end of last year the deficit of buses reached 49% of the total fleet in the capital
The import, however, will not be enough to cover the deficiencies of the state automobile fleet. At the end of last year, the bus deficit reached 49% of the total fleet in the capital.
Of 878 buses, only 435 travel the streets of Havana, and many of them, with serious mechanical and structural damage, as has documented this newspaper in the last weeks. Henry Aldama, head of the Provincial Directorate of Transport, recognized the past December to the official press that of the 435 urban buses that left in the morning, fewer than 400 were on the road at the edge of noon.
At a meeting of the capital’s authorities in which the arrival of the buses was anticipated, Governor Reinaldo García Zapata demanded to improve maintenance on the roads where the routes circulate and promised that he will ensure the care of the brand-new Japanese vehicles , the first to arrive in the country in four years. The official said that the new buses “will make it possible to improve public service, which was very deteriorated in the last stage due to breakages, lack of parts, tires and batteries,” according to the official diary Tribune of Havana.
The general director of Provincial Transportation, Leandro Méndez Peña, stated that the causes of the deterioration in the public transport system were due to “a serious problem with financing and foreign suppliers” that made it difficult to purchase new media and acquire new vehicles. parts and pieces necessary for the maintenance or repair of damaged buses.
Overexploitation, improper handling, the quality of the roads and the precariousness in their maintenance have caused that of the 443 out of service, around 60 are paralyzed due to “total engine breakdowns,” added Méndez Peña. The rest of the vehicles are not working due to the “lack of tires, batteries, oil filters and even material to cover the punches.”
Given the constant demands of the population, who accuse the Government of not guaranteeing the fuel necessary for transportation in the capital, the official pointed out that “there is availability to cover the buses that are in operation.”
The new Japanese vehicles will be destined for the Guanabo (59) and Bahía (25) terminals, both located in the peripheral municipality of La Habana del Este. The old buses that currently operate in these bases will be redistributed at the terminals of Diezmero in El Cotorro and Fortuna in La Lisa. The remaining municipalities will have to wait for a future donation that supplies the transportation needs.
Japan’s cooperation with Cuba, in force for 60 years, intensified as of the 90s, also covering community projects for human security and cultural assistance.
Japan’s cooperation with Cuba, in force for 60 years, intensified from the 90’s, also covering community projects for human security and cultural assistance.
The Large-Scale Non-Reimbursable Financial Assistance agreement was negotiated in 2015 and its first project was signed during Japanese Prime Minister Abe’s visit to Cuba in 2016. In April 2019, the first delivery of a donation of 100 trucks arrived for garbage collection.
Next February 13 units of X-ray equipment and 500 units of suction equipment will arrive as part of these agreements. In addition, last October Tokyo sent 44 ultrasound stations to the island for the diagnosis of various pathologies, manufactured by Fujifilm.
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