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Speedboats in Mwanza at long last
2005-10-01 09:30:44
By Joseph Shayo, PST
At long last the two boats owned by Lake Fast Ferries Ltd. arrived at their Mwanza Port destination after a long wrangle between the transporters, Truck Parts Ltd, and the Ministry of Works that took more than a year.
The boats, Lake Express1, with a capacity of carrying 70 passengers and Lake Expressed 11 which carries 90 passengers arrived here in the afternoon from Kisumu in Kenya.
The boats were received by Mwanza Regional Commissioner Daniel Ole Njolai, and a hundreds of Mwanza residents.
Speaking at the ceremony, Njoolay said that the boats were a great relief for businessmen in the East African Community member states, particularly Tanzania.
’They will now be able to travel smoothly and conduct business in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania,’ he noted , adding that the boats would also boost tourism .
”Tourists can land in Kisumu and enjoy a boat ride to Mwanza before travelling to Serengeti Game Park and other tourist attractions in the Northern Circuit,” he explained.
The boats owned by Abdul Jaffer of the Lake Fast Ferries Ltd. could not be transported to Mwanza by road after Minister for Works John Magufuli refused to issue a permit on grounds that they would damage the boats.
Magufuli had instructed the transporters to dismantle and transport them in pieces so as to reduce the weight and other measures.
The Co-ordinator of Lake Fast Ferries, Azim Dewji, decided to approach the Kenyan Minister for Works, Raila Odinga who agreed to consider his request upon being furnished with the documents showing the actual weight and size of the boats.
’I gave the Minister the documents from the manufacturers as well as certificates issued by TBS after they had measured the boats anew.
I also gave him the recommendations made by TANROADS which indicated that there was no problem transporting the boats by road from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza,’ Dewji explained adding that the Minister gave him the permit to transport the boats from Mombasa to Kisumu in just about 24 hours.
’The Kenyan roads are tarmac and better off than Tanzanian roads a good part of which are gravel roads,’ he said.
He argued that there was no way the boats could be dismantled and then re-assembled as instructed by Magufuli as that would be a safety risk.
Dewji said he had to pay 400 m/- Kenyan Shillings as transport costs compared to 5m/- that he would have paid if the boats were transported through Tanzania.
On his part, the Director of Lake Fast Ferries Ltd, Abdul Jaffer told PS that he was happy that the boats arrived in Mwanza.
’However, I have suffered a loss of about 100 m US Dollars because the project is late by 14 months,’ he explained.
He said he would soon deliver two more boats from USA with a combined capacity of ferrying 250 passengers.
He added that the boats would be brought in pieces and assembled in Mwanza port.
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