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Prolonged tug-of-war on speedboats will only hurt wananchi
2005-04-21 08:26:14
By Editor
Sometime last year, Tanzanians, especially the people living along the shores of Lake Victoria and its immediate hinterland, had good reason to give a sigh of relief when they received news that two luxury speed boasts would soon be at their service, criss-crossing the waters of the lake, transporting them and their cargo to various points from various points.
The people were given hopes that the boats would be transported to Mwanza from Dar es Salaam port where they were docked after importation by the investor, Lake Fast Ferries Limited, and the people saw pictures of the boats in local newspapers and television stations.
To date, many months later, unfortunately, the boats are still lying at the Dar es Salaam harbour waiting to be transported to Mwanza, and the pictures of the boats are fading away from the minds of those who were expecting them to be operational by now.
The problem lies between the investor, and the Ministry of Works, each blaming the other for not transporting the boats.
While the investor would want the boats were transported to Mwanza yesterday, the government, through the ministry, is adamantly refusing to issue a permit to allow the boats to be transported on the Tanzanian roads, which the ministry claims is not equipped for such a heavy and wide- load-like boats.
Lake Fast Ferries, the investor, accuses the government of double standards and unfairness, because he claims that the government was refusing them permit to transport their boats to Mwanza on the grounds that they are too heavy and too wide when at the same time, the same government allowed transportation of cargo that was heavier than the boats on the same roads.
On the other hand, the government is saying it will not allow the speedboats to be transported on its roads unless the investor and transporters fulfilled three technical conditions, which include reducing the weights of the boats to less than 56 tonnes, reducing the lengths and widths of the boats and ensuring that the low loader of each load was one metre above the road level.
Further, Minister John Pombe Magufuli who is responsible for the roads, accuses the investor and transporters of telling lies both on the weight and widths of the boats and on the government allowing transportation of cargo heavier than the boats on the roads. As usual the Minister gave figures to support his accusations of the investor and transporters.
But we think that these figures actually mean nothing to the end users of the speedboats. What the people want is to be relieved of their transportation snags on the lake. The technicalities of why the boats cannot be transported to the lake on the roads only serve to add to their transportation woes.
While the reasons given by the government for not allowing the boats to be transported on the roads in their present condition could be true, some other people could make a political issue out of this saga and accuse the government of insensitivity towards its people’s plights.
The investor too, may exploit this situation and force the government to make decisions it may regret later.
We think that cheating on the part of the investor won’t help matters, and an iron hand on the part of the government will make matters worse on the end user, the mwananchi, who wants his or her transport problems solved.
We urge that the government and the investor should sit together and reach some rapport in order to ensure that the people get the services they need without undue delay.
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