The running of the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Association’s (FESARTA) will be performed by Mike Fitzmaurice.
Fitzmaurice has agreed to run the association voluntarily in the same manner that his predecessor, Barney Curtis did, until such time as it is financially viable. He has been given the necessary tools and has a wealth of information at his disposal. Curtis will continue to work in the background, providing advice to Fitzmaurice until February 2016.
Fitzmaurice has a number of priorities that he says he’ll be tackling, including:
- The harmonisation of transport regulations, vehicle standards, dimensions, overload control/axle limits, Road User Charges (RUC) and transportation of dangerous goods within the tripartite (SADC/COMESA/EAC) region.
- The managing or reporting of NTB’s will continue with the objective of having these resolved satisfactorily.
- The updating and maintaining of the Africa corridors handbook.
- The Road Transport Forum, which will be organised in the same manner as previous events held in South Africa. With the right support, a forum could be held annually and may even visit other regions within the tripartite.
- Continued encouragement of self-regulation from FESARTA members and National Road Transport Associations (NRTA’s), including the Road Transport Management System (RTMS).
- Revisiting of the proposed RTMS pilot project along the North-South Corridor, in conjunction with SADC.
- Self-regulation, which is the basis for compliance and uniformity within the transport industry.
- Maintain and improve the standard of service to NRTA and corporate members.
- Grow the corporate membership to ensure FESARTA”s future sustainability and make FESARTA more resourceful within the region.
- Maintain and strengthen existing relationships with organisations such as the tripartite, sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Programme (SSATP) – now known as the Africa Transport Policy Programme – International Road Transport Union (IRU) of which FESARTA is a member and many others.
