THE poor quality of bus bodies and chassis is one cause of road accidents, the Kenya Association of Manufacturers has said.
Other causes are poor roads, human error and bad weather, it said.
CEO Phyllis Wakiaga in a statement yesterday said a many locally built bus bodies do not meet standards and undermine the vehicles’ performance.
“We need these standards enforced to enable vehicles to perform,” she said.
Each vehicle has a corresponding bus body that enables it operate at optimum capacity, Wakiaga said.
Having many varied designs, as we do currently, may compromise vehicles’ operations, she said.
Wakiaga said there are good-quality locally manufactured bus bodies that boost Kenya’s economy.
She said companies such as General Motors Kenya, one of only three assemblers in the country, is a centre of excellence for bus body building standards.
“This is what we hope the regulators can continue to encourage,” Wakiaga said.
Wakiaga called for the formation of a National Automotive Council to regulate the automotive value chain.
“This is not a new proposal as the Automotive Council was first proposed in the National Industrialisation Policy 2012,” she said.
“[We should] establish a National Automotive Industry Committee to coordinate the industry and develop the automotive value chain.”
