The Government of Nicaragua has announced that the first group of a total of 550 buses from Russia have arrived at the Pacific coastal port of Corinto in the Department of Chinandega.
This first shipment of 150 buses will be followed by a second shipment which is expected to be delivered by the end of this October.
The buses arrived on a Ro/Ro (Roll-On/Roll-Off) transport ship which is specially designed for international shipping of vehicles, trucks, and trailers. These ships make regular stops in Corinto bringing in new and nearly new vehicles which are stored inside the ship, where they are protected from the elements.
The delivery is part of the 550 units that the Nicaragua will acquire (some paid for and some donated) and will be added to the Managua collective transport fleet. The Government of Nicaragua will purchase 300 buses and Russia will donate another 250 units making a total of 550 buses.
The new buses will be handed over to the Transport Regulatory Institute of the Municipality of Managua (INTRARMA by their acronym in Spanish) who will allocate each bus to the individual routes.
As reported earlier this year in Nica-Biz, the model is what The GAZ Group (the Russian manufacturer; Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod) calls a “Middle-Class Bus for City and Suburban Service”.
Each bus has been modified for tropical weather and conditions, including; suspension and tires for uneven roads and the rainy season, larger windows with tinted glass, vandal-proof seats and a roof mounted air intake system.
In March of 2021, the Russian news agency TASS announced that 250 buses (and spare parts) will be donated to Nicaragua in 2021. The donation falls under “Technical Aid to the Republic of Nicaragua” by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade and is worth 1.32 Billion rubles (US $17.8 million). The buses will come from the GAZ Group and the contract for procurement ends on December 31st 2021.
