IN what can be described as response to the government’s call, hundreds of Dar es Salaam residents yesterday turned up at the offices of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) contractor to request for jobs, barely a day after President John Magufuli launched the second phase of the project.
Speaking on Wednesday in Dodoma when laying a foundation stone of the 7trn/- worth 426km-long SGR line, Dr Magufuli announced that thousands of jobs will be created by the ongoing huge projects, including the Statefunded construction of the country’s first ever SGR line from Morogoro to Dodoma, representing 30,000 new direct jobs and 600,000 indirect ones.
The Turkish-based Yapi Merkezi is implementing both projects and supervised by Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC). Dar es Salaam youth started flocking the former’s office, since Monday this week registering their names so that they can be considered in variousemployment opportunities offered by the contractor.
“I arrived here in the morning to have my name registered after I heard the President speaking from Dodoma that there will be jobs offered by the contractor, but I was surprised to find a huge number of people preparing to grab the same jobs,’’ said Said Yusuph who is a professional driver.
In an interview with the ‘Daily News,’ various people who flocked the Yapi Merkezi offices said they were eagerly waiting to be short- listed by the company for the jobs. According to the company’s employment coordinator, Mr Brian Mwakalinga, the firm announced job opportunities for engineers, casual labourers and drivers, among other posts on February 1.
“Since then we have been receiving many people here who are looking for employment,’’ he said. However, added Mr Mwakalinga, yesterday the number of people increased tremendously after Dr Magufuli announced in Dodoma that there would be more jobs offered during the implementation of the Morogoro-Makutupora SGR line. Yesterday alone, more than 1,000 people appeared at the Yapi Merkezi offices to register for the jobs.
The ‘Daily News’ team that visited the area witnessed groups of youth arriving from different parts of the city to see if they can be lucky for the new jobs. There were two people who had been appointed by the company’s job coordinator to register names of all people who had intention to secure jobs. According to Mr Mwakalinga, since February, this year, 300 people had so far secured jobs.
Outside the offices, it was yet another blessing to men and women selling food, water and soft drinks. The youth who had turned up to apply for jobs were equally enjoying their breakfast, lunch and dinner without moving far away. “I am happy that I can make a profit of up to 30,000/- per day, because many people are coming here to look for jobs and they don’t leave this place until they see all offices closed at night,’’ said Ms Rose Herman, who is selling food at the area
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