Weed out fake spare part dealers, govt tells local companies

The Minister of Works and Transport Katumba Wamala has asked local truck assembling companies to support the supply and distribution chain of reliable and genuine spare parts to weed out fakes in Uganda’s spare parts market.

Apart from distribution of genuine parts, Mr Katumba who was represented by the Director, Transport, at the ministry of works and transport, Benon Kajuna, also encouraged Double Q, the distributors of Sinotruks to develop a culture of carrying out training clinics to vehicle drivers and operators to introduce them to new vehicle technologies and safe driving to reduce road crashes on Uganda’s roads, some of which are caused by poorly maintained vehicles.  

“Embrace and support road safety programs such as defensive driver training for truck drivers among your (Sinotruk) clients because vehicle safety is of paramount importance to the country. Aim at underscoring integration of advanced active and passive safety features and technologies above anything else to your line of vehicle models,” Kajuna said. 
 
Mr Kajuna made these remarks on Saturday at the launch of the newest Sinotruk models of trucks, the Howo Max, Howo NX and Howo M7 at the company headquarters at Busega, a Kampala suburb.   
Kajuna explained that the launch of the locally assembled new truck models is not just a celebration of a new product but celebration of Uganda’s potential for growth and development.

“This will not only create jobs and stimulate economic growth but also provide an opportunity for Ugandans to acquire high quality vehicles that are tailored to the local conditions. These trucks will address the much-needed equipment capacity in Uganda’s transport and construction industry,” Kajuna said.
Richard Musani, the Head of Marketing at Double Q said the three curated truck models are designed to meet customer needs and applications such as construction and logistics, agriculture and the mining sectors in Uganda.

On his part, Tang Wenjun, the Country Manager Africa Division Sinotruk International said the new trucks not only introduce advanced features into the Uganda truck market but that they are also assembled with German technology of improved safety, efficiency and less fuel consumption.
 
“This technology is exclusive to Africa’s market but we are also welcome to new ideas on how we can improve the quality and standard of Uganda’s commercial truck market from small to large scale production no matter where you operate from,” Wenjun said.
It should be noted that as a land-locked country, Uganda relies heavily on road transport that accounts for over 95 percent of cargo and passenger traffic.