Parliament says Transport, Works ministries face budget crisis

Dodoma. The government will have to swiftly source a staggering Sh6.37 trillion to compensate families that are to be relocated to pave the way for road construction projects and pay arrears to contractors, the Parliament was told on Monday, February 5, 2024.

The amount revealed by the parliamentary committee on Infrastructure, shows just how demanding and costly the desire to develop Tanzania’s roads could be.

The money is over four times more than the entire budget for the ministry of Works for the current fiscal year, which stands at Sh1.5 trillion.

The chairman of the committee, Suleiman Kakoso (Mpanda-Rural) told the august House that so far the Tanzania Roads Agency (Tanroads) has yet to disburse a total of Sh778 billion owed to contractors and consulting engineers.

On the other hand, a total of Sh5.59 trillion is what Tanroads requires to compensate various people who are to leave their areas to pave the way for the construction of various roads at national and regional levels.

“This Committee advises the government to ensure that it pays the money to contractors and consulting engineers to avoid accrued interest arrears associated with the contracts signed,” he said.

The committee also advised the government to raise the Woks budget. The government, said Mr Kakoso, should also consider doing away with areas that have been earmarked by Tanroads for road development but which it [the government] does not need right now.

"Let such places be left out so that the residents can develop them,” he said.

Construction of bypass roads and fixing beacons on the boundaries of areas earmarked for road projects could help reduce the challenge.

He said an analysis that was conducted before the start of the ongoing rainy season in some regions shows that Tanzania would need a total of Sh10 trillion for road development alone.

Out of the money, Sh5 trillion would be for the construction of roads, Sh4 trillion would be spent on the construction of bridges and the remaining Sh2 trillion would be for maintenance.

“With the ongoing rains, the amount approved for the ministry of Works is not enough,” he said.

Out of the ministry of Works’ budget that was approved for the 2023/24 fiscal year, only Sh369 billion had been released as of December 2023, Mr Kakoso told the Parliament.

The committee also proposes that the government should remit Sh35 billion to the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) every month.

The money is part of what TPA collects as wharfage charges, which are currently taken by the central government. By remitting the cash back to TPA, the committee says, it will help bolster ports’ maintenance funds.

The committee also noted that various dockets within the ministries of Works and Transport face an acute shortage of funds that needs the intervention of the central government.

Apart from Tanroads, the situation was the same for the Marine Services Company Limited (MSCL) and Tanzania Airports Authority (TAA), among others.

The construction of telecommunication towers under the Universal Communications Service Access Fund (UCSAF), Mr Kakoso said, also left a lot to be desired.

The committee realised that the speed of the construction of towers was too slow.

Giving an example, Mr Kakoso said only 15 towers had been constructed as of December 2023, even though the plan was to build 758 towers in 713 wards.

The towers were to be erected by Airtel Tanzania, TTCL, Vodacom Tanzania, Mic Tanzania (Tigo) and Vietel (Halotel).

"This is equivalent to a two percent performance. More needs to be done to expedite the construction of the towers,” he said.