A DEAL made by the Ministry of Communications and Works with several private companies to supply Nicosia with 120 new buses for €25 million beginning this July could put the Nicosia Bus Company out of business, it said yesterday.
The Nicosia Bus Company, which runs 130 of the Nicosia district’s buses has been operating since 1971.
But the Ministry has contracted with another company to operate the new buses and will simultaneously revoke the Nicosia Bus Company’s licence, the company said yesterday.
Costas Christodoulou, the company’s general manager, claims that the Ministry offered his company a deal to operate the new buses at €1 per kilometre, but he declined because the proposed rate was not high enough to cover the company’s operating costs, which are €1.5 per kilometre. Christodoulou claims the government subsequently offered the contract to another company for €3.45 per kilometre.
But Communications Ministry Permanent Secretary Makis Constantinides said that the government has indeed contracted with the new company to operate the new buses at the rate of €1 per kilometre. He also said that fares will remain unchanged because the government plans to subsidise the service.
Christodoulou disagrees. “The people of Cyprus will pay double the cost to someone else for the same service,” he said. “What is the government? It’s your money, it’s my money, it’s the taxes we pay.”
When asked why the government would strike a deal for a much higher rate, Christodoulou said it was an attempt to put the Nicosia Bus Company out of business. “[The government] does not want us to operate because they don’t like us, because we are not yes men,” he said.
“Since I can remember the government has wanted to destroy our company,” he continued. “They never did anything to help us; they obstruct us, that is why we gave up.”
One such obstruction, according to Christodoulou, occurred when the government delayed registering a new bus for two months, something he claims should have only taken two hours.
Another allegedly resulted from the Nicosia Bus Company’s agreement with the government to serve the Parasinos elementary school for £240 per bus per month, a figure well below operating costs according to Christodoulou. When his company informed the government that it could no longer afford to provide the service at that rate, Christodoulou claims the government gave the contract to other companies for £1,500 per bus per month.
Christodoulou predicts a “scandal” will occur over the alleged price fixing. “It is a disgusting matter,” he said.
Others claim the government has also acted immorally in the tenders bid for the purchase of the buses.
According to Politis newspaper, the Department of Road Transport held a closed tender bid to determine from which companies to purchase the buses but was contractually obligated to hold a competitive open bid. A Cypriot bus-importing company is furious over the matter, claiming that the government failed to inform it of the tenders competition and as a result lost the opportunity to submit a bid on time.
The company wrote a complaint letter to the Ministry of Interior and the Department of Road Transport alleging that the Department also acted illegally by requesting tenders from specific companies rather than holding an open competition. According to Politis however the Department claims that it had the right to request bids from specific companies in order to accelerate the acquisition of the buses.
The Department also claims that certain companies were not invited to submit tenders because they do not maintain garages for the proper maintenance and repair of the buses.
The complaint letter also requested an explanation for why the Department held a sealed competition, stating that the Department had previously informed it that bidding would be open to all companies. The company also alleged in its letter that the Department only informed it last week that the bidding would be closed except to selected companies.
Director of the Road Transport Department Sotiris Kolettas could not be reached for comment on the accusation.
Not all 120 buses will be put into service in July. The first buses will make their inaugural run at that time and the rest will be gradually phased into the fleet as they become available, said Constantinides.
The Transport Department will hold a new competition for tenders in March to purchase another 360 buses and plans to replace its entire fleet by 2013 with standard European buses.
The Department requested bids for the supply of the buses from European companies that maintain a presence in Cyprus, such as Mercedes, Scania and Volvo, among others.
