The wide spread rumour that is going on that the Tow Vehicle that was bought by the Sierra Leone Road Transport Corporation SLRTC, was a used vehicle (second hand) as a result of the date on the seat belt of the said vehicle has been clarified.
This clarification was done in an interview by Mr. Vijay Nathan, Senior Export Manager- Ashok Leyland, the company that manufactured the said vehicle. He disclosed that “Seat belt does not determine vehicle manufacture date, be informed that we consider the year of manufacture of a vehicle by the date the chassis is rolled out of our assembly line and passed to sales/body builder,”.
He explained that the vehicle supplied is a very special one, which is supplied for towing and defence application in India as generally it is very difficult to source all parts at the same time for vehicles not in regular production. He added that many non standard and difficult to source parts are arranged well in advance based on batch size.
“The year 2008 mentioned on the seat belt of the tow vehicle is the date it was made by our supplier and later supplied to us, but the chassis was manufactured some time in 2010 and the upper part was completed in 2011. The vehicle supplied is new and manufactured in 2011. I have made available the internal inspection report/quality certificate for people to verify them in relation to the date of manufacture,” says Mr. Nathan.
According to him, they made the supply base on the request made by SLRTC that they need life recovery vehicle and the vehicle is 4 by 4 sterling that is used by the military in India, but when they received the order from Sierra Leone, they decided to manufacture the same type with special tires specifically made for use in Sierra Leone since there are no desert or snow. “You can use 2 by 2 or 4 by 4 when you engage it and the wrecker equipment is part mechanical and part hydraulic as it can perform in any condition and operate on both sides,” he added.
In relation to the vehicle duration, Mr. Nathan maintained that it depends on the distance covered by the vehicle, as it is made for special purpose it can last for more than twenty or thirty years based on the maintenance. “We give one year guaranty and presently myself and a representative from our partner in India is presently doing maintenance on the vehicles including the buses for two months,” Mr. Nathan explained.
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