Gibraltar Government donates refurbished bikes to help underprivileged in Morocco

HM Government of Gibraltar

Minister Paul Balban in centre with representatives of the charities

ALTHOUGH Gibraltar has a relatively successful public bike hire operation in the Redibike, it followed the failed Gibibike programme which cost  taxpayers £300,000.

This was introduced in 2011 by the previous government and was beset with problems from the start, with many bikes damaged or stolen in a very short period of time and the whole programme cancelled after just six months.

Starting with 130 bikes, by the time that the parent company went bankrupt there were only 47 functional bikes left.

Unable to use the bikes which government had inherited, it decided to renovate as many as it could and has now donated 50 refurbished bikes for use in Morocco via the International Lions Club and the Association Méditerranéen de Developpement et de Formation.

Now these bikes will be cherished by those who need to travel several miles to school or their places of work and at least something useful has emerged from this expensive failed experiment.

Written by

John Smith

Married to Ophelia in Gibraltar in 1978, John has spent much of his life travelling on security print and minting business and visited every continent except Antarctica. Having retired several years ago, the couple moved to their house in Estepona and John became a regular news writer for the EWN Media Group taking particular interest in Finance, Gibraltar and Costa del Sol Social Scene. Currently he is acting as Editorial Consultant for the paper helping to shape its future development. Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews

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