Aftermath of the SPTC warehouse fire |10 August 2018

R11 million disbursed for urgent expenses

A sum of R11 million has been disbursed to the Seychelles Public Transport Corporation by the executive branch of the government following the devastating warehouse fire which occurred at its depot at Latanier Road, on Wednesday afternoon.

The decision was announced yesterday morning following an urgent meeting held at State House where President Danny Faure, Vice-President Vincent Meriton, Minister for Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning Maurice Loustau-Lalanne and the Minister for Habitat, Infrastructure and Land Transport Pamela Charlette met Seychelles Public Transport Corporation (SPTC) chairman Andy Moncherry and the corporation’s deputy chief executive Maxwell Julie.

During an interview with the press shortly after the meeting, VP Meriton said it has been decided that "the government will immediately put R11 million at the disposal of the SPTC."

He further said that the quick access to extra funds will enable the parastatal body to prioritise what spare parts and supplies it urgently needs to replace the lost equipment. VP Meriton added that this is to ensure public safety in buses and allow the transportation services to keep functioning.

Subsequent to this decision, the SPTC will air freight priority equipment at the soonest and the less urgent ones will be shipped into the country.

According to VP Meriton, the R11 million disbursement comes from “the budget approved for the SPTC” and that the government will later find a way to restore the money.

Additionally, talks with various partners including India are ongoing concerning this matter.

"We have discussed with the Indian High Commissioner (Dr Ausaf Sayeed) this morning (yesterday morning) to see if we can fly in priority equipment with their support,” VP Meriton revealed.

The SPTC is expected to receive a total of 71 brand new buses from India that will help reduce the current pressure on its transportation services. The first fleet will arrive next week and the second batch will be coming in by the end of September.

For his part, Mr Moncherry said the SPTC is in the process of assessing the extent of the damage and therefore cannot estimate its losses from the warehouse fire incident although he acknowledged it to be a substantial amount.

"The SPTC does have a structure in place in case of incidents and this particular incident has shown that the system is effective. The health and safety officer was prompt in evacuating people and in ensuring that there were no casualties," Mr Moncherry said whilst responding to a question on in-house security.

He also confirmed that there were several SPTC employees in the warehouse when the fire started but that they were fortunately safely evacuated and also added that buses affected by the fire were those that had been written off and were not in the corporation’s fleet. Therefore, the SPTC’s transportation services have not been affected.

The lesson learnt from this incident is to proverbially not 'put all of one's eggs in one basket'.

"This incident has made us realise that, in the future, we will need to have several sets of warehouses instead of just a main one [...], so that even if a problem occurs in one the others will cover our needs," Mr Moncherry said.

Mr Moncherry says that spare parts, wheels and IT equipment were among some of the warehouse’s contents that were consumed in the fire.

Wednesday’s fire incident saw around 80 fire-fighters successfully putting out the blaze but not before the fire tore through the warehouse destroying the pieces of equipment stored inside.

The investigation concerning the warehouse fire is still ongoing.

Also present at the meeting yesterday morning at State Hose were the Secretary of State for Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning Patrick Payet, the deputy cabinet secretary for policy affairs Margaret Pillay and the special adviser to the President, Hans Aglaé.