THE Controller and Auditor General (CAG), Prof Mussa Assad, has accused the Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS) of misusing 309.7m/- that had been allocated for erection of signs for people with disabilities in eight regions of Tanzania Mainland.
“Despite TANROADS having allocated
309.7m/- in the year 2015/2016 for erection of signs for people with
disabilities in the eight visited regions, only about 15 per cent of
required disability signs was installed,” the CAG pointed out in his
performance report on management of roads furniture.
The CAG conducted interviews with
TANROADS regional offices from Dar es Salaam, Coast Region, Dodoma,
Tanga, Morogoro, Iringa, Mbeya and Mtwara regions and discovered that
some of the funds for disability signs were used for other activities.
For example, he noted, the Mbeya
regional office used the funds for road safety activities and
procurement of traffic control signal facility which was installed at
Mafiat junction.
He said that Mtwara regional office did
not install any disability sign despite receiving 21.460m/-in the
financial year 2015/2016 for such purpose. Similarly, other regions also
reallocated the received safety funds for other maintenance activities.
As a result, disability signs were not installed as budgeted for.
“This shows that the regional offices
are not keen on attending to issues related to road safety and in
particular to road furniture. Out of 718 required signs for people with
disabilities, only 106 were installed, which equals to 14.8 per cent of
the required signs,” the CAG stated in the report.
He further noted that Iringa Region was
ranking high on compliance as they installed 100 per cent of the
requirement. However, he said, the audit noted that TANROADS has no
information for other regions on installation of disability signs. For
example, in Dodoma Region, four disability signs were installed in urban
area, but the same was not shown in TANROADS data.
TANROADS was supposed to conduct needs
assessment to identify the actual demand of disability signs for each
region before disbursing the funds. However, the CAG noted, TANROADS
allocated funds for financial year 2015/2016 without considering the
regional needs. He said that Iringa Region was given 33m/- for
installation of 30 signs while Morogoro Region was given 43.3m/- for
installation of 504 signs.
“Most of these regions did not plan and
establish need for disability sign. Therefore, the given funds were not
adequately spent. TANROADS disbursed funds for procuring disability
signs based on the coverage of road networks of each region,” he said.
In addition to the missing roads
furniture, the audit by the CAG also observed roads furniture with poor
visibility along Morogoro-Dodoma, Dodoma- Iringa, TANZAM Highway
(Igawa-Mbeya) and Mbeya- Lwanjilo-Chunya roads.
“Road signs and markings were not easily
seen from a distance during day and night. This is because the
materials used were not reflective. Also, the guard rails lacked
reflective plates. Further, the audit observed that improper location
impaired the visibility of road furniture,” he said.
For example, he noted, along
Dodoma-Iringa road at GAPCO filling station (Iringa town) and
Mbeya-Lwanjilo-Chunya road some zebra crossings were located at sharp
bends. Since the pre-opening inspections and safety audits were carried
out and highlighted the issues of visibility, the shortfalls should have
been dealt with before the roads were handed over to TANROADS.
Also, on Lindi to Mtwara section of
Kilwa Road, the audit observed several signs were not visible due to
obstruction by long grass and tree leaves. This is a result of
inadequate inspections and lack of routine maintenance. Poor visibility
of road furniture contributes to road crashes.
The CAG further noted that in Tanzania,
most of the road furniture are old, dilapidated and some are not of
required standard. This, he said, has to some extent contributed to an
increase in road accidents.
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