Tricycle owners want gov’t to extend deadline on zoning system

As the restriction on tricycle movements takes effect in Kaduna, tricycles owners have urged the state government for a 90-day extension of the deadline and implementation of the new zoning policy to enable them to capture over 30,000 tricycles in the state.

Arewa Trust Weekly

reports that Kaduna State Transport Regulatory Authority (KADSTRA) had earlier announced a new zoning system that segmented the operations of commercial tricycles into 12 zones in the four LGAs in the metropolis thereby restricting their areas of operation.

Even though enforcement commenced on September 1, the tricycle owners appealed for more time, saying the registration centres were not enough to cover the high number of tricycles.

The Secretary of Kaduna State Tricycle Owners Association, Habib Ibrahim, who spoke with our correspondent lamented the one-month time frame stating that since the registration involved payment, it would be difficult to meet up because their members have been financially affected by the COVID-19 lockdown.

“The one month time frame the government gave is too short to register the whole tricycles in the state. Also, those handling the registration are demanding N4000 per tricycle. Aside that, during the lockdown over 1,000 of our tricycles were seized and we were told to pay N20,000 to get them back, which some could not afford,” he said

Habib said the operatives from the Kaduna State Transport Law Enforcement Agency, KASTLEA, have begun confiscating tricycles despite

assurances that enforcement will not start until more clarifications were given.

Reacting, the Head of Operations of KADSTRA, Daniel Tense, said sensitization on the new policy started over a year ago and involved all transportation unions in the state, adding that the official price for registration was N3, 250.

He said to meet the deadline, each zone was provided with two centres and backups to ensure quick registration.