Transport minister, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe
Presenting budget estimates for the Transport ministry on Saturday night, the minister said the radars are for civilian aircraft control.
According to Mwakyembe discussions between the government and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) are in progress for the procurement of the gadgets.
He noted that the radars are expected to be purchased during the coming financial year 2014/2015. He said the move was necessitated by the need to improve air safety in light of the growing services in the sector.
The development comes more than a year after the government received £29.5m (about 75bn/-) as difference from overpriced radar purchased in 1999 from London-based private company- British Aerospace Engineering (BAE Systems).
Dr Mwakyembe also said in a bid to enhance aviation safety, in the fast growing sector, the ministry was considering separating the air traffic control functions from those of monitoring aviation industry, now under one body.
He said in 2013/2014 financial year aircraft movements increased by 7.8 from 242,745 to 261,763 in April, 2014. Of these, internal aircraft movements grew from 202,319 in 2012/2013 to 220,528 by April, this year, an increase of 9 per cent.
The minister attributed the increased movement to more aircraft entering the internal market and the rehabilitation of Songwe, Kigoma and Tabora airports.
Dr Mwakyembe said the number of passengers travelling by air within the country is expected to reach 5.7 million in the next financial year, up from 2.8 million this year. This follows the opening up of new airports and growth of the economy.
He said Tanzania had by April this year entered into bilateral services agreements (BASA) with 52 countries compared to 48 during the same period, last year and that 25 airlines were offering services under the arrangement.
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