Operating Licenses (OLs) are rolled-out to taxi operators in the province
16 August 2006
North West readiness for Governmentâs taxi recapitalisation programme
(Recap) has gathered momentum with the handing over today (Wednesday) of 145
OLs to taxi operators who applied for the conversion from the old radius-based
permit licenses by the 31 May 2006 deadline.
Four hundred and fifteen (415) more will be issued between tomorrow
(Thursday) and Saturday, bringing to 560 the number of OLs issued in less that
a week by the Department to the taxi operators
In total, 2 266 taxi operators in the five regions of province (Eastern;
Western; Southern; Northern and Central) were by today in possession of the
route-based OLs since the roll-out campaign began on Monday, 24 July
2006.
By Saturday this week, 2 684 taxi operators of North West would in possession
of OLs which are one of several requirements for the R7,7 billion taxis
Recap.
âThis is indeed encouraging developments for our province and it
demonstrates the kind of understanding and working relationship we have our
with our taxi industry. Our readiness for Recap is well documented and Iâm
confident we can reach our target of processing and issuing more than 11 000
OLs in the province before the end of October this year,â Thibedi said.
Thibedi urged his provincial taxi council, North West Province Taxi Council,
to âhelp and encourageâ their counterparts in other provinces and share the
benefits of Recap.
âWe cannot just talk of a successful roll-out of Recap in one part of the
country as if this is a federal state. It is therefore important that you
(provincial taxi industry) go out and interact with other taxi operators in
other provinces so that they too can be seen to moving forward on this
important taxi Recap,â he said.
The total number of North West applications for conversion from permit
licenses to OLs received from taxi operators by 31 May, was 12 542.
Issued by: Department of Transport, Roads and Community Safety, North West
Provincial Government
16 August 2006
Source: North West Department of Transport, Roads and Community Safety
(http://www.nwpg.gov.za/Transport/default.asp)
