Tanzania: Govt to Adopt Feasible, Affordable Tech in Road Projects

By Daily News Reporter in Dodoma

THE government has reaffirmed commitment to adopting feasible and affordable technological options in the implementation of road projects, especially in rural areas across the country.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communications Elius Mwakalinga expressed the government's commitment at the weekend when winding up the low volume sealed roads construction technology training workshop at Chamwino in Dodoma Region.

Training was supported by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and organised by the Mbeya-based Appropriate Technology Training Institute (ATTI) between August 17 and September 14, this year.

"The government will ensure feasible and affordable technological options are adopted for the development of rural roads," he said, stressing that "roads are catalysts for development as they are for public transport and transportation of goods from one place to another, opening access to services and business opportunities."

The PS noted that there was a close link between infrastructure specifically roads and socioeconomic development of the country. He added that roads acted like veins in the human body which supplied blood to and out of the heart.

The training workshop brought together 20 participants from ATTI, Tarura, Tanroads, Tasaf, Zanzibar, Road Fund Board, Ministry of Works, Transport and Communications, the President's Office (Regional Administration and Local Government Authorities), Morogoro Works Training Institute, the Prime Minister's Office (Labour , Employment, Youth and Disabled) as well as four labour-based contractors from Lindi, Mbeya, Rukwa and Dodoma.

Mr Mwakalinga emphasised that the training workshop was held to improve rural roads, noting that accessibility of rural areas had to consider a number of factors such as availability of technology and its affordability.

ILO National Programme Coordinator, Social Protection and Employment Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP) Dampu Ndenzaro said "ILO is happy to see the government investing in major infrastructural development like the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline, Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and the Mwalimu Nyerere Hydro Electric Power Project."

He noted that the government was also committed to other strategies that promoted inclusive growth for employment promotion and creation.

ILO has been working closely with the government in many areas of work to advance the decent work agenda. They include employment promotion, labour standards, social protection while integrating other cross-cutting issues such as gender, environment and HIV/Aids.

Ndenzaro explained that such type of training focused on facilitating learning of new technologies and showcasing the use of labour-based feasible technologies for the development of roads among engineers, technicians and small-scale contractors, while promoting skills, enterprise development and job creation for rural communities.

He said it would also contribute to learning new feasible technology options for road construction and rehabilitation, while impacting skills for enterprise development and future employment potential.

ATTI Principal Mahmoud Chamle noted that the aim of the training workshop was to introduce the low cost technology to engineers to use in their daily projects.

He said trained local contractors had also been engaged by the project to upgrade a 100-metre stretch of a road in Chamwino District to a low -volume sealed road (LVSR) using Cuplump Modified Asphalt (CMA) and Emulsion Treated Base (ETB).