Reply: According to the Public Transport (Buses) Workers (Remuneration) Regulations 2019, every employer has a statutory obligation to provide uniforms to all eligible workers, comprising primarily bus crews (drivers and conductors), traffic officers, workshop employees and administrative staff governed by the National Remuneration Board (NRB) regime. Pursuant to these Regulations, the 2017 employees of the NTC are eligible for uniforms, as follows –  Crews (Drivers & Conductors): 1,573  Workshop Employees: 280  Traffic Officers: 119  NRB Admin Employees: 45 Each worker is entitled to three sets of uniforms annually. According to information obtained from NTC, the supply of uniforms to its employees for the year 2025 has been delayed due to a series of circumstances, namely –

163 (i) uniforms relating to the year 2024 have been allocated to eligible employees only in February 2025; (ii) pursuant to a request from the employees, the design of the uniform was reviewed and approved by the NTC Board in August 2025, and (iii) the cancellation of the ongoing bidding exercise in September 2025 to abide by the mandatory requirement of the e-Procurement System instead of the traditional paper-based method. The NTC has informed that the bidding exercise will be relaunched shortly by the NTC and that the uniforms for the year 2025 should be available for distribution to eligible employees by mid- March 2026. The NTC has further informed that the NTC Employees Union and Transport Industry Workers Union is requesting for a one-off cash allowance of Rs7000 per eligible employee in lieu of the three sets of uniform. The NTC is examining the proposal. EXPORTS TO UNITED STATES – AFRICA GROWTH & OPPORTUNITY ACT – RENEWAL