Ports authority on 163-project blitz to boost performance

DAILY NEWS Reporter

Director General, Engineer Deusdedit Kakoko

THE Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) is implementing 163 projects aimed at raising performance in all ports in the country.

Basking in the glory of improved performance, TPA Director General, Engineer Deusdedit Kakoko told reporters in Dar es Salaam that the authority paid 80.1bn/- to the government in 2015/16: 40bn/- in form of corporate tax; VAT 37.4bn/- and withholding tax 2.7bn/-.

“Dividend to the government this year was 93bn/- against our collected revenue amounting to 662bn/-,” he noted.

He said performance up-lifting projects in Dar es Salaam port alone will cost 690m US dollars.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) will offer a 600-million dollar softloan; the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and Trade Mark East Africa will jointly offer 30-million US dollars grant and the Government will contribute 60 million US dollars.

Eng. Kakoko said the money will be spent on ten schemes, which include increasing berth depth to 14 metres -- covering berths number 1 to 11; increasing scanners from three to five; building a new berth at Gerezani Creek and two more at number 13 and 14 locations, deepening to 14 metres the port’s gateway, installation of a conveyor system and silos, modernisation of the railway network within the port, expansion of Bandari-Mivinjeni Road and completion of a onestop centre building along Sokoine Drive.

Tanga will get an oil jetty and storage tanks, he said, adding that designs and feasibility study for the proposed Mwambani Port will be launched in the near future.

Mtwara Port will be modernised by building a multipurpose terminal while Dangote Cement Company has been permitted to build its own berth at Kisiwa-Mgao, which should handle cement only.

Modernisation of Lindi Port by Comfix and Engineering Limited has been completed by 25 per cent but the DG said work is expected to be complete in the first quarter of next year.

Under the modernisation programme, Eng. Kakoko said attention will be paid to ports in the Great Lakes Region, building Karema, Lagosa, Kagunga, Kirando, Kibirizi and Kalya berths.

Building of Sibwesa berth on Lake Tanganyika is projected to be completed in December. Works on Ntama and Lushamba berths continue, the director general said.

A new 200-passenger vessel to ply Lake Nyasa and two self-propelled cargo barges are being built at Kyela at a cost of 10.350bn/-.

The project is due for completion in February next year. The DG said a critical analysis to establish the reasons for a drop in cargo at Dar es Salaam port was underway, but gave no figures or suspected causes of the drop.

Nonetheless, he said, in the 2014/15 fiscal year, the ports collectively handled 15,979,693 tonnes of cargo compared with 15,427,830 tonnes in 2013/14.

In 2014/15, the port handled 4,732 tonnes of cargo destined to neighbouring countries.