VID set to become a commercial unit

Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister, Joram Gumbo, expressed concern over Zinara’s relationship with Univern.

GOVERNMENT has announced that it is working on plans to commercialise the Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) to maximise efficiency and improve service delivery.
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister, Joram Gumbo, told The Financial Gazette that his ministry was working flat out to make sure that the plan materialised.
“We are working on commercialising the VID as this will enable employees to sustain themselves through their income. The entity must stand alone, avoiding unnecessary reliance on public funds,” Gumbo said.
“As you can see, most entities of this kind have been relying on government in the past, causing them to be reluctant to boost efficiency. Currently the proposals are being considered and I will soon make an announcement on the progress made.”
Economist Prosper Chitambara said the commercialisation could make its services expensive.
“Affordability and easy access could be at stake because commercialisation means that pricing structures must be aligned to market principles. While corruption and inefficiency may be defeated, there will be need to carefully examine the causes of such problems because normally institutions can be revamped without necessarily commercialising them,” he said.
Last year, Accountant-General, Daniel Muchemwa, told Parliament that he was preparing a report to name and shame loss-making State enterprises and parastatals.
He said 30 parastatals’ books of accounts had never been handed to Auditor-General Mildred Chiri for auditing and noted that the problem at parastatals was not lack of qualified manpower and computerised equipment, but that the people running the entities were inefficient.
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