Call made for the revamp of NASACO

In line with that, the community called on the government to accomplish the process and other legal procedures to enable them (TSC) start performing the activities of exploring oil and gas in both deep and shallow waters.

The Chairman of TSC, Mr Frank Chuma, said in a press conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the restoration of NASACO will help improve efficiency in the country’s ports.

“Lack of having a state owned firm to oversee and control all the shipping activities in the country is the main setback that has led to various nuisances including thievery of containers and other properties at the country’s ports,” he said.

Mr Chuma said the restoration of the firm will also help control all the shipping agents in the country to ensure efficiency in revenue collections and other matters in the shipping activities.

“Another big failure that we do face in shipping activities in our country is lack of proper shipping agents control... the main area where our revenues disappear,” he said, stressing the need for President Magufuli to consider the matter and restore the firm for better country’s fortune.

The community that strongly criticized the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (SUMATRA) for failure to manage activities at Marine Transport said NASACO was the right authority to manage the shipping activities.

On the other hand, the community said it was ready to embark on the exploration of gas and oil in both shallow and deep waters. Mr Chuma told reporters that the matter had early been presented to Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) who promised to present the matter to the Ministry of Energy and Minerals for further procedures.

“As we await for the government resolution over the matter (oil and gas exploration), we would also like to remind the government to consider speeding up the process of getting rid of foreigners working in the country unnecessarily in order to enable locals take over the jobs,” he said.

He said such foreigners are spotted mostly at the ports including the Dar es Salaam port and in exploration areas among others.

“We (TSC) had met with the Minister for Works, Transport and Communications, Prof Makame Mbarawa and discussed with him our concern over lack of security services at the ports,” he noted, adding that the minister promised to tackle the matter.