Fuel supply in upcountry cities, towns constrained Truck owners: 'No strike, only caring for our roads'
Tanzania Truck Owners Association (Tatoa)
official Elias Lukumay gestures when going through Road Traffic Act,
1973 at press conference organised by Tatoa stakeholders in Dar es
Salaam.
A number of filling stations in upcountry urban areas have closed shop owing to acute shortage of fuel. In Dar es Salaam, the country’s commercial capital, the number of containers of cargo cleared at the port per day has meanwhile dwindled to 300 from 800 units.
Some food markets are reportedly running short of supplies, mostly ferried from upcountry points on lorries and buses, and prices have started shooting up.
Surveys and interviews made by this paper in Dar es Salaam’s major fresh food and grain markets of Buguruni, Kariakoo, Mabibo and Tegeta since the strike started show that there has been constrained supply of food commodities, which had a direct effect on food prices.
“We have started experiencing a serious shortage of produce in our markets because many truck owners are on strike. If the situation continues, very soon a kilo of rice will jump to 2,500/- from the current 1,500/-,” said Hussein Marijani, a food supplier at the Buguruni market.
Besides rice, food commodities including tomatoes, maize, bananas and vegetables enter the markets of Dar es Salaam and cities on lorries, as the railway network is dilapidated and air transport is not a preferred mode of transport.
The strike is clearly spelling an acute shortage of basic needs – with the skyrocketing of prices hugely likely. Apart from the low supply at the markets, some transport stakeholders say that some filling stations in upcountry towns and cities have begun to run short of fuel, which has also started threatening the running of businesses and affecting the economy.
“We have information that some filling stations upcountry are already running low on fuel. Some generators which consume much petrol have gone dry. If the government will continue to maintain its stance on counting on overloads, the ultimate result will be chaos,” he said.
“We are not going back to business unless the government reinstates the five percent allowance weight tolerance on overloaded trucks at weighbridges,” said Davis Mosha, Chairman of Belina Group Transporters, a member of Tanzania Truck Owner Association (Tatoa).
“We have given the government ample time to respond to our requests and our way forward depends on the government’s response. We are not rushing to court as the minister advised us to do,” he added.
The Works ministry is associating the truck owners with a conspiracy to use the impact of the strike to make the government grant their demands to overload their vehicles.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Martine Ntemo, said in a telephone interview yesterday that the truck owners decided to strike “knowing that they would use the outcome of the boycott to have the government allow them to continue damaging public infrastructure”.
“They knew very well from the beginning that constraining the economy would be the outcome of their boycott and that through such effects the government will automatically allow them to go on damaging the roads... but things are different. There is no turning back here, the order remains the same,” he noted.
Investigations conducted at Dar es Salaam port have shown that since there are no goods moving out, there is no space to enable the offloading of incoming ships. This has resulted in a long queue – of 27 ships – since the strike started.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with this paper, Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) acting corporate communications manager Janeth Ruzangi, said 11 ships have docked at the port while 16 are waiting in the high seas.
She said this is because, owing to the strike by truck owners, goods cleared and directly hauled away on trucks are not being cleared.
Ruzangi explained that the Tanzania International Container Terminal Services Ltd (TICTS), which on average used to clear 800 containers a day before the strike, now clears only 300 units using trucks owned by dry port operators.
“Our plea to all parties involved in this matter is that they should find a solution to the problem before the situation worsens further. Our fear is that, if this situation goes on, our workers will be rendered idle and the port’s income will plummet,’’ she added.
But commenting on the matter, Consolidated Transport managing director Karim Ladha said: “We are not on strike as reported by some media outlets. We have decided to park our vehicles so that we do not damage the roads. So as such we are implementing (Works minister Dr John) Magufuli’s order that overloaded trucks are unwanted on the country’s roads.”
“We want good roads for the well-being of our vehicles so we cannot be party to anything that could destroy roads costing billions in taxpayers’ money to build and repair,” he noted.
Another truck owner, Azim Dewji, said the minister was “deliberately bending the law” – adding: “The law is clear but only three per cent of vehicles are capable of carrying the recommended weight of 56 tonnes. From Dar es Salaam to Harare there are 14 weighbridges, so paying fines for overloaded trucks at each weighbridge would mean paying lots of money.”
Usangu Logistics representative Ibrahim Ismail said the government must reinstate the five per cent allowable weight tolerance “or transporters will be compelled to increase passenger fares and freight charges”.
Tanzania Bus Owners Association (Taboa) deputy secretary general Severine Ngallo meanwhile told this paper that all buses found with excess weight yesterday were fined at weighbridges and allowed to move on.
“The situation is affecting us extremely adversely. Unless the government sees our argument, we will join the Tatoa and park up our buses as well,” he said, visibly dejected.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
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