Bus operators breathe sigh of relief as makers open local office in Dar
Dar es Salaam. After having to buy spare parts at a high price locally, while others import the equipment from China, local bus owners and operators now have a reason to smile, thanks to China based Yutong manufacturers who have launched their spare shop in the country.
Most bus owners say they have been purchasing Yutong buses from China and the availability of 'trusted' spare parts has been a challenge locally.
But, they have now breathed a sigh of relief as the Yutong Company for the first time on Friday launched its large spare parts store in Dar es Salaam.
According to Eric Si, Yutong country representative to Tanzania, there has been a great need for spare parts for the owners of these buses in Tanzania in parallel with reducing the burden of importing spare parts from China.
"Tanzania is one of the countries with the biggest users of our Yutong buses, so in order to bring these services closer, we have found it good to have this Spare Parts office to avoid the existing challenges," he said.
He said that was just part of the company's plan to establish a warehouse in Tanzania, which will lead to the buses being manufactured locally to serve the entire region of East and Central Africa.
For their part, the bus operators expressed their joy due to the relief they will get when they need spare parts.
"We are very happy with the opening of this office here because we have witnessed fake spare parts that have hindered our business despite the fact that Yutong is a company we trust a lot," said Mr Geofrey Kisuda, operator of the Mtei express bus company.
For his part, Esther Luxury buses’ national supervisor, Mr Godwin Sauli told The Citizen that the presence of original spare parts in the country gives them the assurance of a better service than they had to look for in various shops in the country or spend more on importing from China.
"For the first time in Tanzania, we have the opportunity to have this office. We are going to save millions that we used to incur in importing some spare parts because sometimes we could not find them in our local shops," he said.
