Friday, 6 March 2009

Official calls for work on road, rail networks

From The Citizen, Dar es Salaam
By Samuel Kamndaya

The on-going concerted efforts to ease congestion at the Dar es Salaam Port will not bear any fruits if the road and rail networks are not improved, it has been said.

The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) Director of Corporate Planning, Ms Florence Nkya, told The Citizen in an exclusive interview that bad railways and roads are partly to blame for the congestion at the country's largest port.

Over $500 million (about Sh650 billion) invested in improving the country's ports since 1980s has not made any big impact due to poor inland infrastructure, she said. Under its current condition, the railway transports less than seven per cent of the total containers arriving at the port, leaving over 93 per cent to rely on road transport.

Former Tanzania Railways Limited (TRL) managing director Narasim Jayaram conceded that the railway line was in terrible state -operating only two trains per week between Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Kigoma.

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