With only two weeks remaining for public transport operators, earlier associated with various committees across the country, to register as companies, the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs Association has asked all its member committees to immediately begin the registration process.

The umbrella body has asked all the committees to complete the process to register as private companies within five days. According to Saroj Sitaula, general secretary of the federation, the notice was issued considering the time constraint.

Over a year into the government decision of stopping renewal and registration of transport committees, a move aimed at dismantling the public transport syndicates, such committees have paid little heed to be listed as private companies.

As part of the government crackdown on public transport operators, the entities were required to register last year as companies at the Office of the Company Registrar as per the amendment to the Transport Management Directives-2004.

While the committees continued to show reluctance to register as companies after the amendment made it mandatory for transport entrepreneurs to be listed as private companies—earlier united as several transport committees and associations nationwide, the government extended the deadline several times. June 1 is the latest deadline to register as companies.

According to the Department of Transport Management’s estimates, 2,800 new transport companies and 7,000 vehicles were registered with the Company Registrar’s Office as of mid-November last year when the given deadline was December.

The transport federation claims there are nearly 300,000 public vehicles associated with it. However, the association has no idea how many of these vehicles and associations have already been registered as private companies. They blame the cumbersome procedure for the slow progress in registration as companies.

“There are only limited company registrar’s offices; every transport operator will have to flock to these offices. It would be much easier if there were many offices outside Kathmandu Valley,” said Situala, the general secretary.   

Last month, the government minimised procedural hassles for registration when it decided to allow verification of the property belonging to the now-defunct transport committees by officials at any transport management office in the country