Travel crisis grinds on as rain hampers repair of key bridge
The site along the Morogoro-Dodoma highway where a key bridge was swept away by floodwaters in Kilosa District, Morogoro Region, on Monday is seen during repairs when Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa (inset) made an inspection tour yesterday. Repairs could not be completed yesterday as initially planned due to heavy rain. PHOTOS | PMO
What you need to know:
Kamwelwe said on Tuesday that repair of the bridge was expected to be completed on Tuesday evening... But, with rains still pounding, the work has turned out to be a rather tall order
Morogoro. Travellers on the Dar es Salaam-Morogoro-Dodoma Road were stranded for a second day yesterday as builders work around the clock to repair a bridge that was swept away by floodwaters on Monday.
Works, Transport and Communication minister Isack Kamwelwe said on Tuesday that repair of the bridge was expected to be completed on Tuesday evening but with rains still falling, the work turned out to be a tall order.
Until press time yesterday, work on the bridge was still going on.
That did not however go down well with Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, who ordered that the acting manager for Tanzania Roads Agency (Tanroads) in Morogoro, Mr Godfrey Andalwisye be removed from office.
Mr Majaliwa, who toured the ongoing work to build a temporary bridge at the area, was of the view that Mr Andalwisye was not undertaking routine checks on infrastructure within his area of jurisdiction, more especially during the ongoing rainy season.
He said Morogoro Region has a total of 12 engineers, thus, he found no reason why they failed to conduct routine checks on various infrastructure projects within the area.
“Tanroads has enough budget. It also has enough experts. What happened here is pure negligence which has cost the country’s economy dearly. This shows that you do not have a tendency of making routine checks especially to see if there were trash under the bridge that prevents water from flowing freely,” he said.
It said it was shameful for the road that links to Tanzania to some neighbouring countries to be destroyed and remain unused for several days.
Mr Majaliwa asked Tanzania People’s Defence Forces and engineers in Morogoro and Dodoma to join their forces and ensure that they find an alternative route so that vehicles can start passing the area as construction work on the bridge continues.
Following the collapse of Kiyegera Bridge in Gair, bus operators were forced to use the Dodoma-Iringa- Morogoro route to and from Dar es Salaam and thus individual travellers had to foot up to Sh36,000 for the trip instead of the usual Sh22,000.
On the contrary, those transporting cargo by trucks had to wait for the ongoing work to pass.
Apart from transporting goods that pass through the Port of Dar es Salaam to other regions within Tanzania including: Dodoma, Singida, Tabora, Shinyanga, Mwanza, Geita, Mara and Kagera among others, the Dar es Salaam-Morogoro-Dodoma highway is also key in transporting cargo to neighbouring countries of Rwanda and Burundi.
The Tanzania Association of Transporters (TAT) chief executive officer, Mr Hussein Wandwi said some transporters have shifted to the Iringa route.
“While some have found alternative routes, those going to Rwanda and Burundi have been affected these three days but hopefully things will return to normal tomorrow,” he said.
It is estimated about 80 percent of goods in transit that have been imported by the Port of Dar es Salaam pass through the Iringa Road to Tunduma-Nakonde border, destined for Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and through the Kasumulu-Songwe border to Malawi.
The remaining part if what is transported via the Dar es Salaam-Morogoro-Dodoma Road to Rwanda and Burundi.
Reported by Lilian Lucas in Morogoro and Rosemary Mirondo in Dar es Salaam
