An aerial view of the Mbezi Luis International Bus Terminal in Dar es Salaam. A few buses will be allowed in the facility as trials begin today. PHOTO | file
Alfred Zacharia is a business reporter for The Citizen and Mwananchi newspapers.
Mwananchi Communications Limitted
Dar es Salaam. Mbezi Luis International Bus Terminal will run its first operational trial today, the city council has said.
With more than 90 percent completed, a few buses (at least six) will enter, pack, turn and go out of the facility today as a test to see how efficient the terminal is.
Dar es Salaam city director Sipora Liana said yesterday that the trial will begin at 12 noon.
“We have never tried the facility before to see if it is conducive enough to host the buses. The trial will give us a clear picture before the official launch,” she said.
The trial event will be coordinated by the city council and witnessed by the Land Transport Regulatory Authority (Latra), security organs, Tanzania Buses Owners Association (Taboa) and other related persons and institutions.
Chairman of Taboa Abdullah Mohamed said the bus owners have already picked the buses for the trial.
“All is set for the event,” he noted. “We expect a slight upsurge of operation costs due to quality of the facility compared with the current Ubungo Terminal,” he added.
According to him, the packing fee at Ubungo is Sh31,000 per cubic metre, but they expect it to go up to Sh40, 000 per same size in the new facility.
“I heard that the facility will not allow unregistered agents, so the issue of security is assured here,” he said.
Dar es salaam Regional Commissioner Aboubakar Kunenge said the facility will officially start operating on November 30.
The Citizen paid a visit at the site and observed that the construction activities of the Sh51 billion facility were in progress.
