PSV body builders to be registered afresh as new regulations come into force

Those engaged in bus and coach body building must now demonstrate technical capacity in terms of registered engineers and technicians, and use proper materials in fabricating the bodies.

“The process of accreditation is ongoing,” said Francis Meja, director-general at NTSA.

“Companies must have qualified engineers to ensure compliance. In case of any malfunction, the engineer and body builder will be held responsible,” Mr Meja said in an interview with the Business Daily.

The move to register body builders afresh and enforce a new standards code is informed by the rising number of fatalities on Kenyan roads blamed on poor workmanship on bus bodies which expose passengers to harm.

For example, a bus belonging to City to City rolled at Ntulele on the Narok-Maai Mahiu road and killed 41 persons in August 2013, as the roof of the bus was ripped off and the body badly mangled.

Buses currently operating on Kenyan roads will have to be redesigned to comply with a new body code. Currently, there are no rules guiding body manufacturers resulting in buses made in multiple shapes and configurations with awkward numbers of passenger seats.

Local bus fabricators who must now seek approval afresh include Labh Singh, Dodi Autotech, Banbros, Truck World, Malva, Choda, Highlands, Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers (KVM), Kenya Coach Industries, and Thika Motor Dealers, among others.

KVM welcomed the new body building standards, saying they will help develop buses that are fuel efficient and lighter by using aluminium and fibreglass instead of steel.

“You have to understand that the current standard was developed in the early 90’s when the standard at that time showed pictures of a converted pick-up as the mainstay of bus production,” said David Percival, managing director at Thika-based KVM.

Mr Percival added that there is resistance to new materials “as they use different technologies to effect repairs, and a steel bus body can be repaired at the side of the road anywhere in Kenya.”

Kenya’s vehicle body builders currently serve Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern Congo.

“The industry secretariat is carrying out site audits for all registered body builders to ascertain their administrative, physical and technological capacity,” Mr Narain Sokhi, the CEO of Kenya Coach Industries Ltd, said adding the exercise would be completed by end of the year. 

Concerns about safety aspects of locally made bus bodies have previously forced Toyota and General Motors East Africa to appoint foreign firms to build their Hino and Isuzu bus bodies respectively.

Toyota Kenya in mid-2013 dealt local body builders a blow after it contracted South African firm Busmark to produce bodies for its buses under the Hino brand due to quality and safety concerns.

GM followed in their rival’s footsteps and in October that year partnered with GB Polo, a Cairo-based bus body manufacturer, to build coaches because local body builders could not provide assurances on set quality and safety standards, the automaker said.

The new body making standards are meant to promote passenger safety and comfort.

NTSA has developed rules that define parameters such as floor levels, width of gangways, seating layout, hand rails and hand holds, lighting and illumination, emergency exits, fire safety, dimensions of overhead luggage racks.

The new code will see body builders embrace best practices such as strong seat anchorage, use of materials such as fibre glass, and use of plastics rather than heavy metals on seat handles.

The buses business in Kenya is dominated by established players such as Toyota, CMC, GM, Simba Colt and DT Dobie who need the services of fabricators.