President Raul Castro will allow private contractors back into Cuba's transport sector, after almost a decade on the sidelines, to try to jumpstart the stalled system, official media reported.

Private drivers were barred from operating in the Americas' only one-party communist regime back in 1999 with no explanation, sparking outrage from drivers.

Their work was first made legal during a brief foray into a market-minded opening up in the 1990s — after the collapse of the former Societ bloc that subsidized Cuba's food and energy — when many forms of self employment were permitted. Backtracking later ensued on most.

But Transport Minister Jorge Luis Sierra said on state media late on Tuesday "a decision has been made, and is going to be implemented in the coming days" to re-legalize private operators, if not in a format seen before.

"There will be two types of licenses: on the one hand, rural transport and on the other in some urban areas," Sierra said on Radio Rebelde.

Licenses "will be approved one at a time, the fuel will be given (to the operator), prices will be set a route will be set and a schedule. It's as if it were a public bus," Sierra told lawmakers set for their first working session since Raul Castro took Cuba's helm. The session starts on Friday.

Sierra said Havana planned to spend two-billion dollars on public transport improvements, about a quarter of which would be for 5000 buses, mostly from China.

Though Cuba has been importing buses, it still has a shortage. And if urban areas are underserved, many rural areas are barely served at all.

It is the latest reform by Castro since he officially became president in February succeeding his ailing brother Fidel (81). But social and economic reforms have been cautious, and there has been no sign of opening up to any political pluralism.

Raul Castro has allowed Cubans to buy computers, own mobile telephones, rent cars and spend nights in hotels previously only accessible to foreigners — if they can afford such luxuries. The average salary is the equivalent of about 17 dollars a month.

In his last reform move, Raul Castro announced last month that the government was scrapping salary caps long meant to underscore egalitarianism but which his administration says hurt productivity.

He also has implemented reforms that give farmers better pay and more flexibility to buy farming equipment, a move designed to lessen the impact of the world food crisis.

The younger Castro brother (77) also has commuted 30 death sentences, released some political prisoners, and signed human rights accords.

Television has fewer taboos

In addition, television has fewer taboos and Granma, the venerable Communist Party mouthpiece, has taken to publishing grievances from residents.

But on the political side, Raul Castro's government has stood firm.

Just last week Cuba rounded up and detained more than 30 dissidents after accusing the United States of "instigating" opposition to the Communist regime, a top rights activist told AFP.

As many as 35 people were arrested and around 70 targeted in all, but most have now been freed, economist Martha Beatriz Roque of the rights group Agenda for the Transition said Saturday.

Late last month ailing longtime Fidel Castro strongly denied rumours that he was the leader of a faction of hardline Communists disgruntled about reforms introduced in Cuba since his brother Raul succeeded him.

AFP