Anbessa anticipates over 40mln birr loss - Denies 75% fare increment proposal

14 September 2006

By Tedla Yeneakal - Capital

The management of Anbessa City Bus Enterprise fears that it may have lost over 40 million birr during the past fiscal year.

General Manager of the enterprise, Haileleule Taddese, told Capital in a written response that the enterprise had already been operating under a loss.

“Although the year's revenue is under external auditing, we fear that it might exceed over 40 million birr,” Haileleule said. “Due to the inflating fuel prices, increase in the price of spare parts and other related costs, the current subsidy to the enterprise is not enough.”

According to a statement from the enterprise, based on the distance of the routes and the expense the company incurs in providing the service, as well as the number of passengers along these routes, a study was presented comparing the current tariff and the breakeven point.

However, the statement denied Capital 's report last week stating that a 75% increase in the current fares has not been proposed by the Enterprise .

Anbessa currently operates 93 routes on a daily basis and has 360 buses on these routes serving 600,000-700,000 people daily.

In the past year, three Anbessa city buses were completely destroyed and 138 were damaged during election related riots.

The enterprise also said that, with the joint endeavor of the management and employees of Anbessa, the buses have been fixed and are functional again.

According to the statement, the enterprise plans to import new buses with support from the government during the next Ethiopian year and has made full preparations to work in response to quality concerns from customers.