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Zambian government will get major share in United Transport Overseas interests
Page 46
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• A plan for the "rationalization" of all road transport in Zambia has been drawn up following discussions in Lusaka between United Transport Overseas Ltd., of London, and the Industrial Development Corporation of Zambia Ltd. The two companies and the Zambian government now have to give their formal approval to the plan, which will leave the running of United Transport's Zambian companies in its own hands but will give the Zambian government a 51 per cent stake, and therefore a controlling interest.
With the intention of creating an organization under a partnership between the Industrial Development Corporation and United Transport Overseas, there will first be created a company which will acquire all the interests of United Transport Overseas Ltd. in Zam
bia, plus certain other transport undertakings.
United has five companies operating in Zambia, by far the largest being Central African Road Services which has about 1,000 vehicles, mostly p.s.v. but also including some goods vehicles. The other four companies are all freight carriers operating specialist vehicles such as tankers and lowloaders as well as ordinary trucks.
The reorganization follows statements by President Kaunda in April in which he said that the government wanted greater participation in expatriate companies and that there would be a restriction on profits remitted abroad. It is understood that the intention is to seek a 51 per cent government holding and that the companies involved would be allowed to send only half of their share. of the profits (that is, half of 49 per cent) out of the
country. The Zambian government has given an assurance that fair compensation will be paid within a reasonable period.
The original Zambian intention was that United Transport Overseas should take over all the road passenger interests in that country, most of them small, and that another company would take over all the freight interests; this would have been a first stage towards arranging a partnership deal with the government. But it seems that this plan has now been discarded in favour of the single holding company outlined above.
The United Transport Overseas companies in Africa have a very good record of profitability, although Rhodesian UDI has meant considerable re-routeing over the past two years, adding considerably to the difficulty and cost of operation.