Commuter train passengers travelling between the Central Railway Station and Ubungo Maziwa in Dar es Salaam wait for refunds after the locomotive developed a fault at Tabata Matumbi yesterday.
PHOTO | JOSEPH ZABLON
What you need to know:
December last year, Reli Assets Holding Company (Rahco) contracted the firm to carry out a feasibility study on the project to connect the Central Railway Station with four destinations.
Dar es Salaam. A feasibility study of a four-route railway project for the Dar es Salaam commuter train will be accomplished by August this year, the contractor has said.
Gibbs Engineering & Science, a South African firm contracted to undertake the work, is now surveying the planned routes to ascertain various technical issues.
Mr Dunstan Silanda, the Gibbs representative, told The Citizen that his company was doing everything in its powers to ensure the work was completed on time. “We’re currently surveying the route to Temeke. We assure the public that we’ll beat the August deadline,” Mr Silanda said.
December last year, Reli Assets Holding Company (Rahco) contracted the firm to carry out a feasibility study on the project to connect the Central Railway Station with four destinations.
The routes include the Central Railway Station-Luguruni along the Morogoro Road and Chamazi in Temeke District through Kilwa Road.
Others are from the station to Pugu -- about 20 kilometres south-west of Dar es Salaam, connecting the Julius Nyerere International Airport, and to Kerenge passing through Bunju area along the Bagamoyo Road.
The project is expected to reduce traffic jams in the Dar es Salaam. An estimated Sh4 billion is lost daily in decreased productivity, wasted fuel and belated delivery of products caused by traffic jams.
The loss translates to about Sh1.4 trillion annually, according to 2010 estimates made by the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit Agency.
Presenting the 2016/2017 Budget framework before the Parliamentary Budget Committee in Dar es Salaam last week, the Finance and Economic Planning minister, Dr Phillip Mpango, said Sh6.5 billion was set aside for the Dar es Salaam commuter train project.
He said part of the money would finance the feasibility study and that the remainder would be allocated for renovation of the railway line stretching from Ubungo Maziwa to the central station.
The company was also tasked to carry out geometric design, pavement engineering, lighting systems, drainage and storm water engineering, structural/bridge engineering, building services, mechanical engineering, and IT solutions (control and access) system.
