Chinese company, China Nanchang Engineering, has approached Harare City Council with a deal to supply 600 solar-powered buses and additional fixed and working capital to service routes in Greater Harare Metropolitan.
The project will include a central business district (CBD) shuttle service and the Harare Urban Route will service all suburban routes. The routes are divided into Norton, Southern, Eastern and Western suburbs. According to recent minutes of the Environmental Management Committee, in the initial stage, 35 buses will service the Harare-Norton route. Chitungwiza will have 45 buses and Ruwa 20.
Operations would be managed from four established depots, two in Harare, one in Chitungwiza and one in Norton. Depots will be firstly fitted with maintenance and recharging facilities and would be large enough to cater for 200 buses each. The project would have 12 battery swapping stations which will act as charging centres. Transport services would run 19 hours every day from 4am to 11pm.
More: Herald