THE government will soon start earning a whopping 1bn/- yearly from handling and managing the Eastern Triangle airspace, currently being handled by Kenya, following installation of a new surveillance machine at Mnyusi area in Tanga region.
The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority
(TCAA) Acting Chief Air Traffic Management Mr Gideon Msheri said the
Eastern Triangle portion of the airspace was allocated to Kenya in 1977
by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
Mr Msheri told the Infrastructure
Development Committee here yesterday that Eastern Triangle which is a
portion of Tanzania’s airspace was placed under Kenya’s management
because Tanzania did not have the capacity then to communicate with
planes passing through the airspace.
TCAA has so far written to ICAO
requesting that Tanzania is given back the mandate to monitor the
eastern triangle portion, which would earn the nation the 1bn/- per
year.
“The surveillance system that we have
installed at Mnyusi area in Tanga covers the eastern airspace and we
have the right to claim back the eastern triangle airspace and earn the
money which is currently going to Kenya,” Mr Msheri explained.
He said ICAO has agreed and anytime soon
TCAA will have a meeting with organisation to enter into a new contract
or receive new directives on the matter. The ICAO is a United Nations
specialised agency, established in 1944 to manage the administration and
governance of the Convention on International Civil Aviation.
The TCAA chief of air traffic management
noted that with the new installed surveillance systems at Mnyusi in
Tanga region, airlines passing through the eastern triangle airspace can
be guided from within the country, hence the need to get the area back.
He said Tanzania has lost a lot of
revenue from the eastern triangle airspace since 1977, noting that a
study conducted showed that last year the nation lost 1bn/-.
“We cannot evaluate how much we lost in
the previous years since it was allocated to Kenya but we did an
evaluation two years ago on how much we are losing then and found out we
were losing 1bn/- per year,” he explained.
The eastern triangle also covers
Madagascar, Mauritius, Moroni and Mayotte islands. Mr Msheri expressed
optimism to the committee members that the area would be given back to
Tanzania, noting that the law allows any country to seek back its area
after providing satisfying evidence to ICAO that it would be able to
manage it.
The Committee had wanted to get more information on the matter and where TCAA was with addressing the issue.
Meanwhile the Infrastructure Development
Committee will summon the minister of Home Affairs and the Minister of
Works, Transport and Communication to discuss modalities of ensuring the
Fire and Rescue force under TCAA is permanent.
The Committee Chairperson Prof Norman
Adamson Sigalla said this would ensure personnel of the fire and rescue
force under the TCAA who receives specialised training on how to put out
fire on planes are not transferred to other areas that do not need that
kind of specialised training.
Briefing the committee on some of the
challenges facing TCAA, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works,
Transport and Communication, Dr Leonard Chamuriho (Transport sector)
said TCAA has no permanent fire and rescue personnel and vehicles, which
does not paint a good picture for the country’s international airports.
He explained that the best solution is
to have a permanent command under TCAA in accordance with the category
of the airport, which will be available around the clock to provide
safety measure anytime there is a fire disaster at the country’s
airports.
“This has also affected our
international rates with ICAO, the year before last we got 38
percent...a little below that we would have been categorised as
dangerous zone,” he noted explaining that normally fire and rescue
personnel working at airport and the Ports are given special training.
He added: “if a plane comes in to land
and the fire and rescue vehicles have been taken outside the airport to
put out fire, we are required to inform the pilot then it is up to him
to land it and his own risk, this is not good according to international
aviation standards.”
The remarks from the PS elicited
different reactions from the committee members who expressed surprise
that there was no permanent command at the country’s international
airports. Some noted that even vehicles used in the fire and rescue at
airports, most especially in the regions were outdated and not fit to
operate at all.
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