1.6tri/- for Dar es Salaam Port revamp

More than one billion US dollars (about 1.6tri/-) is needed for the strengthening and deepening of seven berths at the Dar es Salaam Port, a move that will increase efficiency and boost cargo volume handling.

After the completion of the project, the port will be able to accommodate big ships in the same manner as the port of Durban, the largest harbour placed on major international shipping routes and South Africa's main cargo and container port.

The Director-General of Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), Mr Madeni Kipande, told journalists in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday in the wake of the tour of the United Kingdom International Development Secretary, Ms Justine Greening, that the implementation of the project will solve the emerging challenges posed by growing trade demands in the region.

He said the estimation of the costs for the project implementations are contained in the feasibility study conducted by a UK-based firm, TradeMark East Africa.

“Trade growth in the neighbouring countries largely served by the Dar es Salaam Port has been one of the challenges that pose for an urgency to deepen berths 1-7 to increase efficiency and reduce costs of cargo handling,” he said.

Mr Madeni appealed to the visiting UK International Development Secretary for technical, capacity building and financial assistance that would increase trade facilitations in terms of speed and efficiency at the port.

The TradeMark East Africa, Strategic Ports Advisor, Tanzania, Mr Anthony Hughes, said increasing efficiency of the Dar es Salaam Port and related infrastructures like railways and roads is a matter of paramount importance for economic development.

Mr Hughes was presenting a paper on the transport lab recommendations across the Central Corridor aimed to increase transit capacity by 5 million tonnes by the year 2015 contained in the programme of Big Results Now (BRN), the efforts to transition the country from low to middle-income economy.

According to the transport lab recommendations, the ports and railways modernization will increase cargo handling to 18 million tonnes in 2015 from the current 12.1 million tonnes.

The Port of Dar es Salaam, which services landlocked countries including Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, handled about 12.1 million metric tons in 2012. TPA expects to handle 13 million tons in 2013.

Source: Daily News, reported by Sebastian Mrindoko from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

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