The once famous Central and Tanga
lines owned by the Tanzania
Railway Limited (TRL) are scheduled for revamping after two
feasibility studies are concluded
mid this year.
Minister for Transport Mr Omar Nundu told the 'Daily News' in Dar es
Salaam on Monday that the two separate studies
would be accomplished by May while in June a request for proposal (RFP)
would be issued.
"A number of companies have shown interest to invest in TRL and
have sent us their proposals," Mr Nundu said adding: "We want the
companies to use a single RFP... the idea is to make TRL tick again and as soon
as possible."
The RFP is issued at an early stage in a procurement process, whereby
an invitation is presented for suppliers, often through a bidding process, to
submit a proposal on a specific commodity or service.
The minister spoke with the 'Daily News' on the sideline of the tour of East African Cooperation (EAC) member
states' ministers for Finance, Economic Affairs, Investment, Trade, and Home
Affairs at the two major ports of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.
Mr Nundu said the studies, to be carried out by two Chinese firms
would establish how to replace the old
railway gauge to a new standard gauge of 1.435 metres that enables the rolling
stock to move fast and carry extra load.
This would also increase the number of rolling stock -- from locomotives
to freight wagons.
"Our plan will ensure the railway infrastructure supports
expansion of the Dar port and does not interfere with this activity," he said. The minister
named the two Chinese companies as China
Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and Chinese Road and Bridge
Construction Company.
EAC Secretary General Dr Richard Sezibera said the ministers were in a
familiarization tour to view the two
ports' activities in a bid to remove the
bottlenecks that may be stalling the bloc's businesses.
He said in order to speed up trading in the
EAC, the region will install a single window clearance at entry points by December
at the latest, to eliminate transit
goods hurdles within the region.
Uganda's Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Mr Fredrick
Ruhindi, said inland ports would be rendered useless in terms of customs
duty but will facilitate exports and
imports, complimenting ports on cargo handling to reduce congestion.
Rwandan Minister John Bosco said he wondered
why the Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (TICTS) failed to
perform in accordance with its
privatization mandate.
"(Actual) TICTS is performing
below standards and for what it
was privatized, it must expedite cargo clearance," Mr Bosco
said. But TICTS' Terminal Manager Donald Talawa defended the performance of the
firm, saying it was good as it now handled twice the capacity of the facility,
surpassing the terminal capacity of 250,000 TEUs in the past six years.
TICTS is currently
rehabilitating berth number nine and
expects to deliver another 6.5 million US dollar (10.4bn/-) quay crane between
July and August, while container dwelling time is only 10 days, he said.
Source; The Daily News,www.dailynews.co.tz, reported by Abduel Elinaza
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