|
TRC, Tazara concession in limbo?
2006-09-19 09:38:49
By Bilal Abdul-Aziz
An old locomotive pulls a long chain of wagons. An awkward sound from it denotes something wrong with its engine systems.
As it struggles to drag the wagons that carry hundreds of passengers inside, it emits heavy smokes, which spreads on air, swings for a few second before the wind blows it away.
I saw one of the passengers, a tall, slender woman, as she walked along the platform at the central railway station in Dar es Salaam.
She was walking towards the train that was stationed, but due to leave the country’s key commercial and port city to up country regions—-Kigoma and Mwanza destinations.
On her right hand, was a mid sized baggage and on her back she was carrying a baby, who seemed to be asleep.
She was a typical passenger, representing the majority I saw inside the wagons of the leaving train. I posed looking at the train until it went off my sight…
That was the last time I saw the train leaving the central railway station in Dar es Salaam for up country regions, because few weeks later, the government announced postponement of both goods and passenger trains between Dar es Salaam and the country’s political capital, Dodoma.
The government suspended the train services early this year, citing dilapidated infrastructure, among other reasons. The move has negatively impacted on the movement of people and goods between the two cities.
Also bearing the brunt is the hitherto flourishing commerce between the two cities. Currently, all up-country train services start journeys at the Dodoma station, not Dar es Salaam.
Following the suspension, hundreds of people dependant on TRC commuter and cargo services are now compelled to travel by road to Dodoma, a bigger inconvenience to many.
Deputy Minister forInfrastructure Development, Dr Maua Daftari, says the government is concerned following the suspension of the vital services for the poor majority.
Dr Daftari says however that the government, through her ministry is doing everything possible to ensure rail operation between Dodoma and Dar es Salaam is restored.
According to her, some US$33m (approximately 40bn/-) have been secured for a major rehabilitation and modernization of the central railway line, reviving hopes that the commuter and cargo train service between Dar es Salaam and Dodoma would resume soon.
Rehabilitation work on the country’s main local railway link is set to begin upon conclusion of the contract to lease the Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC) to a private investor in three months’ time.
”Our plan is to start making major repairs on the central railway line once the TRC leasing process is complete…We have already secured funding, amounting to US$33m- for the purpose,” says Dr Daftari.
She explains that the need for rehabilitation is prompted by the need for a smooth take-off by new investor. The deputy ministry is emphatic that improved service on both passenger and goods trains is cardinal.
”The new investor must restore service between Dar es Salaam and Dodoma, because improved and efficient service delivery was the major factor in the decision to lease the corporation,” explains Dr Daftari.
The government reached the decision to leasing the TRC to a private investor few years ago, but implementation of the move under the Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSRC) started mid last year.
After extensive scrutiny, Rites Consortium of India won a lease contract for TRC’s 2,715-kilometre infrastructure to operate one of the country’s key sub-sectors for a period of 25-years, once the lease becomes effective.
The privatization of services at TRC has been attributed to the deterioration of services coupled with a break down of sections of the railway and frequent locomotive failures, which is costly to the state.
According to TRC’s Director General, Linford Mboma, lack of funds is one of the critical factors that compel the government to decide to put the operations of the corporation in the hands of a private investor.
The deputy minister for Infrastructure Development, Dr Milton Mahanga believes that the TRC leasing process would be ready ”in few months’ time.”
The Tanzania-Zambia Railway (Tazara) concession experiences a similar story. It’s already a concrete fact that the railway line would be concessioned to a Chinese investor.
The Deputy Minister for Infrastructure Development, Dr Maua Daftari, reminds after lengthy discussions on the fate of Tazara, the Tanzanian and Zambian governments had agreed to concession it to a Chinese firm with the capacity to run the 1,860-kilometre Tazara railway profitably to be identified by China.
Dr Daftari explains that Tanzania and Zambia agreed recently to give priority to the Chinese firm after taking into account China’s role in building the railway line and sustaining it over the past three decades.
”After lengthy discussions that took years to conclude, the two governments that have been running the railway line since its inception in 1976, agreed to give it to China considering the role it played in its construction and maintenance,” she says.
”We are waiting for PSRC to complete its part. Soon after receiving the report we shall work on it after which we will forward it to the Cabinet for final endorsement,” the deputy minister says.
Among other things, the Commission was expected to come up with an appropriate modality of privatising Tazara, with the two options being selling it or leasing it out.
The PSRC chief consultant Nsoya Magoti says however that the Commission is done with the Tazara matter and has already forwarded its recommendations to the ministry for action.
”The matter is not with PSRC at the moment. It has already been decided that Tazara be disposed of by concession,” he says, adding that after receiving the report, the ministry formed a committee to work on the recommendations.
In April this year, Dr Daftari told parliament in Dodoma that members of the privatisation committee had been drawn from both Tanzania and Zambia. She said the ministry had received the assessment report and recommendations on how privatisation of the railway line would be implemented.
She told the House that the World Bank and an international firm with offices in Dar es Salaam, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, had done due diligence of the giant surface transport service prior to privatisation.
The railway line, dubbed ’Uhuru Railway’ runs from Dar es Salaam to New Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia, was built between 1970 and 1975.
Tazara’s role as a facilitator of political liberation of southern and central African countries is now over and once the concessionaire takes over, it will be run as an economic enterprise.
Tazara has in the recent past been beset by declining profits triggered by technical problems. In the 2005/06 financial year, the Tanzania government set aside 100m/- for the repair of the railway, purchase of new engines, spare parts and new wagons, among other things.
China on the other hand ploughed in millions of dollars for its maintenance under a technical co-operation protocol that was signed in 1976. The Chinese government disbursed recently a US$10.8m/- interest-free loan for the railway line upgrading.
The fact that that the government is still unsure of as to when the leasing processes of the two key railway lines in the country would be completed arises many questions than answers, considering the fact that people, especially the poor majority depending on the railway services for both commuting between various destinations and shipping cargo are suffering a lot with the suspension of the services.
Postponement of the signing of the lease contract between TRC and a foreign private consortium recently to a later date yet to be specified, sent a bad message to the commuters, who were hoping that once the TRC falls in the hands of an investor services, particularly passenger train between Dar es Salaam and Dodoma would resume.
Likewise, Tazara concession, buying words from top government officials at the centre of the process, is yet to be determined, signalling that the railway line will indefinitely perform below its capacity for years to come.
The fact that the government and respective organs are dragging feet to give out the two railway lines, the poor majority depending on the services of the two infrastructure networks would continue to suffer and the economy would continue earning little from the two giant carriers.
|
