Paul Nyathi|Last week a chain of buses was seen in Beitbridge being cleared to enter the country. The government has announced that the batch is headed for the country’s second-largest city Bulawayo, the Chronicle reports.

According to the publication, the latest batch of 76 Zupco buses imported by Government from China left Beitbridge on Sunday for Bulawayo pending commissioning by President Mnangagwa on a date to be announced.

The contingent of golden Dragon buses started arriving in the country on Sunday last week via Beitbridge Border Post.

They left for the country’s second largest city under heavy police guard at around midday on Sunday.

The 76 buses are part of the 1 000 buses order from China which is also expected to complement another 500 buses from Belarus.

President Mnangagwa confirmed the latest acquisition of the fleet on Thursday while addressing the Zanu PF youth league.

“In the transport sector, my administration acquired buses to resuscitate Zupco and ease the plight of the commuting public and we will be launching more buses next week.

“In addition, Government recently extended the Zupco franchise to commuter omnibus operators,’ said President Mnangagwa.

So far Zupco has franchised 200 commuter omnibuses across the country, with efforts to increase the fleet to 1000 already underway.