Bunge committee demands completion of Dar bus project

A PARLIAMENTARY Committee on Regional Administration and Local Government has given the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit (DART) Agency and Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS) two weeks to announce when the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project will kick off.

The committee Chairman, Dr Hamis Kigwangala, issued the directive in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday after receiving implementation report of the project.

“Émplementation was supposed to start this April... but it is unlikely that will happen,” he said. The two government institutions are therefore required to prepare a report that will show how and when the project will go on and present it within 14 days.

“We would like to see the project taking off within two months from now,” Dr Kigwangala noted. He explained that the project was important since it is estimated that the nation loses some 4.5bn/- daily due to traffic congestion in Dar es Salaam.

He directed the Ministry of Works and other relevant authorities to make sure that petty traders doing their activities along the proposed route are removed from the areas. He told DART officials to make sure that a service provider during the interim period should be a patriotic Tanzanian who will also not be barred to bid for a tender to run the actual system later.

The Minister, Regional Administration and Local Government, Ms Hawa Ghasia, said the government support’s the decision to give priority to members of the local business community when it comes to running of the project. “It is good that even the Committee supports this stand,” the minister said.

She explained that the government will work on the Committee’s views with a focus on making the project commence as soon as possible.

DART Agency Chief Executive, Ms Asteria Mlambo, said 413.8bn/- has already been spent on the project and more than 122.8bn/- was still needed as additional cost.

The World Bank is now preparing to release a second round of the loan to cover half of the additional cost, while the other half will have to be paid by the government,” she said.

She attributed the additional costs to the construction of a flyover at Ubungo junction and a rise of a minimum wage for construction workers.

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