LOCAL bus manufacturer AVM Africa (AVM) says it misses the business it used to get from the government, which saw it producing a bus daily.
Now, the company produces five buses in a good month and its capacity utilisation has fallen to less than five percent, managing director Jacob Kupa told The Financial Gazette.
“Our real issue is that the government is the biggest off-taker of buses. So, if we get orders from the biggest off-taker, then the bus manufacturing industry is back in business, which is all we want,” Kupa said on the sidelines of a recent workshop hosted by the Industry ministry.
“We are looking for orders; once we have them, we know what to do.
At its peak, the company employed about 4 000 workers and its factory operated 24-hour shifts, but it now only has 150 employees.
Kupa said AVM had filed an official submission to the government pleading for support.
“We are waiting for them; I am sure they are coming,” he said. This comes as the government has said the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) will take delivery of 500 buses by next year to boost the country’s public transport system. According to reports, most of the buses will be imported, while a smaller portion will be “assembled locally”.
AVM, which was founded in 1961, manufactures bus bodies from scratch and imports engines.
The company also makes trailers, seat upholstery, rebuilds, refurbishments, and other engineering works.
It used to export within the region to countries such as Zambia and Uganda. Its plant in Msasa, Harare, has the capacity to produce city, intercity and country buses.