Restated: Four challenges facing transportation sector in Tanzania

Dar es Salaam. Four primary issues, including a lack of preparedness for emergencies and disasters, have been identified by development partners as continuing to undermine the effectiveness of the country’s labour and transportation sectors.

Speaking on behalf of development partners during the 15th Annual Joint Transport Sector Review meeting 2022 (JTSR 2022) held in Dar es Salam on Wednesday, the African Development Bank Country Manager, Dr Patricia Laverley, explained that the four impediments delayed the sector’s growth.

She stated during a conference attended by Prof Makame Mbarawa, minister of Works and Transportation, that more needs to be done to stimulate greater private sector involvement in the transportation industry.

She also emphasised that they were concerned about the apparent shortcomings in the nation’s emergency response and disaster preparedness.

“Given the recent Precision Air accident, it is imperative to discuss the preparations being made to rectify this flaw,” she exuded.

A further issue she raised in front of more than 200 industry stakeholders was the delayed VAT return for contractors, which she claimed caused missed deadlines as well as financial hardship for the contractors and delays in project implementation.

“So we hope that at this meeting the relevant authorities can collectively deliberate on how to address these issues, especially those that involve contractors from the private sector,” she said.

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She further cited delays in granting tax exemptions and clearance of containers at the port as a challenge, this has been a long-term cry from investors.

“Donor funded projects are supposed to be import duty free. This process is still not clear particularly for loan agreements and it results in accumulation of demurrage costs,” Dr Laverley noted.

In response to the challenges highlighted, Prof Mbarawa seemed to be enraged by the revelation of the report by development partners saying, “That is unacceptable.”

He directed his subordinates, including the permanent secretary to collaborate with the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) as well as the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) to ensure that all the challenges complained of are resolved, as they were paid salaries for that.

“Although these matters involve the Ministry of Finance and Planning and that we will discuss them, they are not acceptable and should not be so... However, the presence of this conference should also be able to recognize these challenges and determine how to face them so they don’t happen again,” he said.

He emphasised that the time has come for the private sector to participate in the construction of infrastructure to accelerate development and promote the national economy.

In that, he noted that the government was planning to change the Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) and the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) laws to enable the private sector to participate in the rail transport service by purchasing railway wagons and operating them.