EDITORIAL: YES, DAR DESERVES BETTER BUS RAPID TRANSIT SERVICES

Nearly five years after the Dar Rapid Transit (Dart) system of mass bus transportation connecting the suburbs of the sprawling Dar es Salaam metropolis to the central business district (CBD) started operations on May 10, 2016, the system has yet to achieve its objectives as intended. Among the objectives were for the system to deliver fast and comfortable mass transit services in the congested metropolis at affordable cost.

And, to do that, the system was blessed with specially-dedicated bus lanes and iconic stations aligned to the centre of roads, as well as off-board fare collection and regular time schedule operations.

While the system admittedly started off on fairly good footing (so to speak) – noticeably reducing travel costs, as well as passengers waiting time at bus stops and travelling times between stations – things just as soon started to deteriorate with the passage of time.

In due course of time and events, the government decided to replace the current transitional operator of the system, Usafiri Dar-Rapid Transit (UDA-rt), with a new operator on a 12-year concession starting from next May.

It is expected that the new operator will come up with enough buses – 305 buses, to be exact – to cope with the daily demand that has risen from the original estimate of 70,000 to 400,000 commuters today.

Even then, the system – which comprises six phases of construction, with only two of the phases already constructed, although only the first phase is currently operational – is far from being fully functional.

Although Dar is no longer the national capital – having been replaced in that role by Dodoma – it nonetheless remains the most important metropolis of the United Republic in socioeconomic terms.

Like no other, it is a business hub and port city that serves half-a-dozen land-locked countries – and is home to 6.7 million residents who need efficacious bus rapid transit services as a matter of course.

SUPPORT FISHERIES SECTOR

It’s a crying shame that despite Tanzania boasting a long coastline and an abundance of water bodies, the country still imports fish from as far afield as half way around the world.

By all means, fishing on a large scale is not for the faint hearted. Staggering sums have to be sunk in as capital in the first place, and, considering the delicate nature of fish in general, preservation is a vital component of the undertaking. Whether it is to be sold fresh, frozen, dried or even smoked, adequate infrastructure is essential to satisfy demand.

After the fishing ban was lifted in Lake Victoria, the fish processing and packaging industry made a killing by exporting Nile perch fillet overseas. This, in turn, depleted the lake of the extra-large fish as regulation was not taken into consideration.

We need to start thinking big within the fishing sector, for there is no way it can grow if we don’t bother to see beyond the end of our noses. We have lakes, rivers and the Indian Ocean to fish from, but we need to seriously invest in large-scale fishing while at the same time ensuring that stocks are not depleted.

Financial support from the private sector is necessary, and progressive polices from government are vital to ensure that Tanzania is self-sufficient as far as fish is concerned.