Towering above the Kigamboni creek is a cable-stayed bridge spanning 680
metres, described as East Africa’s longest, linking the city with the
southern municipality of Kigamboni and Mbagala surburbs and environs.
PHOTO | FILE
By Peter Muthamia
In Summary
When the rebuilding of Dar es Salaam’s transport
infrastructure began about a decade ago, city residents could not
understand why the Morogoro dual carriageway was being demolished when
the works started.
They could also not fathom the far-reaching implications the
proposed new mode of transport — the so-called BRT system dubbed Dar es
Salaam Rapid Transport or Dart system — would have on their lives or
change the city’s look.
As the construction works began, the endless dust was unbearable
to motorists, pedestrians and residents who lived along the affected
roads, as heavy earth moving equipment dug, scrapped and compacted, and
trucks carted away the debris.
Traffic snarl-ups became the order of the day for residents of
the sprawling Kimara, Mbezi Mwisho, Kibamba and other suburbs through
which Morogoro and Kawawa roads passed. The newly built foot bridges and
commuter bus stop shelters erected along the way were not enough to
placate the suffering residents.
Commuters spent hours stuck in traffic in the stifling Dar es
Salaam heat from dawn till late into the night, quietly wondering
whether the project was worth the trouble.
Although it was said that the rapid bus transit system would
ease transport to and from the central business district, it seemed
unlikely then in the eyes of commuters, motorists, pedestrians and the
people living along Kawawa and Morogoro roads, that this would ever come
to pass.
Now that almost 50 per cent of the project is done, the Dart
system, Kigamboni Bridge, reconstruction and expansion of major city
roads, and the changing skyline have transformed the city’s
environmental aesthetics. Indeed, Unesco says that Dar es Salaam is the
second fastest growing city in Africa after Bamako in Mali.
Today, the long blue Dart commuter buses snake their way in and
out of the CBD on designated lanes, next to daladalas (privately-owned
public transport vehicles) from Kimara and Kinondoni suburbs, picking
passengers at specially built up bus stops.
Even the formerly drab districts of the city such as Magomeni,
Ubungo and the Jangwani stretch have been transformed by new roads and
buildings. The areas are orderly and beautiful from the new greenery
planted along the roadside. Many would-be commuters see no need to drive
into the CBD as many services are now easily available since the new
roads have opened up the areas for commerce.
Massive convenience
The Dart system has changed the city in such a way that if you
are a photography enthusiast, it is quite a joy to capture the beauty of
the rebuilt and gentrified districts with a modern skyline; of traffic
as it snakes towards Magogoni Ferry or even Kariakoo, which was once a
cacophony of daladalas, shoppers, bodabodas (motorcycle taxis) and tuk
tuks (three-wheeler taxis).
The Dart system has significantly reduced commuting hours into
and out of the city, time that can be used for productive economic
activities, but was not so long ago wasted in endless traffic snarl-ups.
Statistics by Dart estimate that almost half a million empty
seats drove to and from the CBD (by single occupier vehicles) causing
serious traffic snarl-ups. Today, just months since the launch of Dart
system, there is less traffic congestion meaning more commuters are
opting to use Dart buses although no figures are available yet.
It is expected that after the completion of the second phase,
the Dart system will significantly mitigate traffic jams. Dar es Salaam
residents agree that the system has brought massive convenience.
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