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UK transport scene is looking good

13th August 1976, Page 29
13th August 1976
Page 29
Page 29, 13th August 1976 — UK transport scene is looking good
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Through the services of "Specialised Magazines from Britain," I have recently become a subscriber to Commercial Motor and I am very grateful for the opportunity to bring myself up to date with developments in the road transport industry at home.

I came to independent Africa 10 years ago, to take up a "temporarytwo-year contract, leaving behind a Britain beset by a seamen's strike, but where I could at least purchase my Commercial Motor at my local newstand.

I am now very far from the sea, in the administrative centre of the Kalahari Desert, where I am in charge of the workshops responsible for the Government fleet operating in the district — a district about the size of Wales! Your pictures, articles and even advertisements make me drool at the mouth with envy.

I work only with Land-Rovers, Canadian Ford F250s and Bedford J1s and J5s. The heaviest vehicles we see in the area are 9/10-ton capacity Leyland, MAN and DAF three-axle rigids, with Nissan. Isuzu and Toyota making up the total of other vehicles. The deep sand, alternating with limestone outcrops, and, in the rainy season, flash floods which come up over the headlights on a Bedford J5, really give meaning to the term "operators nightmare."

There are no private cars owned in the district. Personal transport for the very few who

can afford it, is by Land-Rover or similar 4x4 vehicle or by 3/4/1-ton pick-ups. The occasional tourist does try to get his car through en route for Namibia (South West Africa) from Rhodesia or vice versa, but seldom does anyone manage to complete the journey without incurring very expensive repairs, not to mention hours of digging through deep sand in temperatures rising above 100° F.

The enclosed newspaper (see Bird's-eye view, page 28) cutting is actually what inspired me to write to you, as I thought it would both interest and amuse you. Although it is a little out of date (June, 2, 1976) it is nevertheless fairly typical of the news items on transport matters which appear in Botswana's only daily newspaper. This newspaper, incidentally, is published and distributed free of charge by the Botswana government printers in the capital. Gaborone and usually arrives here in batches of a week's issues at a time, a week or two after publication.

With a countrywide population estimated at just over 600,000 of whom a large percentage is illiterate: there is very little to attract potential commercial newspaper proprietors to attempt competition with the Government sponsored broadsheet (which is perhaps a more accurate description than newspaper), especially as the population is spread over a vast area which has only about 400 miles of railway and less than 150 miles of tarred road, both of which are situated in the extreme eastern edge of the country.

Thank you for maintaining such a high standard of magazine. I look forward to t coming issues with the greatest of interest.

R. L. MCINTYRE, Central Transport Organisa tic Ghanzi, Botswana.

Tags

Organisations: Botswana government
Locations: Ghanzi, Gaborone

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