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Floods expose the nakedness of road contractors
2008-04-19 09:30:42
By Gerald Kitabu
Civil engineers expertise particularly road contractors in the country have been shaken in the wake of current rains. The sector, crucial for transport system especially in poor country like Tanzania has been under test by heavy floods which of course is assessment and evaluation of their credibility and integrity in road construction.
Apart from claiming people`s lives in different places in the country, floods have left hundreds of roads and bridges in shambles with rising water flowing over the roads and powerful floods submerging bridges.
Some parts of tarmac roads have been turned into gravel, while gravel roads have changed into mud roads.
Floods are with no doubts enough auditors to assess the efficiency of road contractors.
Their performance and tenders awarded to them on construction sector therefore would be valued upon their merit, strength and smartness of roads infrastructures in the wake of rains which was initially received with a lot of joy and great expectations in March this year.
A survey by the Guardian across the country revealed that the ongoing rains have disclosed poor workmanship and quality control of such projects proving beyond reasonable doubt that some projects did not at all help in realizing good value for money.
So many people have suffered the consequences of the excessive rains in the country.
Some newly built roads have become completely impassable, some people have been washed away by flooding rivers as they tried to cross the bridge where as others have been stuck in the mud after erosion of the tarmac put on the road.
Worse still, those who stay along the roads, have witnessed their vehicles stuck in the mud.
Others have been forced to leave their vehicles quite a distance from their homes especially those in rural areas because roads and rivers are both impassable due to floods.
Roads from Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Morogoro, Tanga, Rufiji, Coastal region, to name but a few, have not been spared by the downpour making long queues of vehicles especially during rush hours .
In Arusha, especially Mto wa Mbu, a big section of the road that links Makuyuni and Karatu submerged in water claiming life of one resident last month, prompting several others residing in the district, especially along the road to take refuge in other parts of the district.
Interviewed, Mto wa Mbu ward councillor Abeid Mushi, explained that during the construction of the road, the residents were not involved, which means the Environmental Impact Assessment team did not seek peoples opinions on the project before it commenced.
Mushi explained that the road construction process was only done by contractors without consulting residents of the area who had lost one person due to floods.
According to him, the floods increased in recent years after the reconstruction of the road.
``I know this problem has been triggered by shortage of caravats, at first, the road used to have more than twenty caravats which used to drain water away from one part of the road to the next, but to my surprise, most of the caravats have been removed after the reconstruction of the road and now this part of the road has only eleven caravats which are not sufficient and strong enough to drain the water away``, explained Mushi.
Explaining the impact of the floods, Andrew Elias, a resident of Mto wa Mbu attributed the impact to lack of Environmental Impact Assessment when the new road that joins Makuyuni and Karatu via mto wa mbu was constructed.
``We aired our grievances when we noticed the road planned for construction and suggested how the reconstruction process should be carried out but our views were completely ignored by the contractors,`` explains Elias.
Aggrieved by the effects of floods, Mwanandi Binde, a resident of Mto wa Mbu, explained that the whole Mto wa Mbu lowland area has been affected by floods and that since the reconstruction of the new road, it was the first time for them to experience such heavy floods.
``We used to have floods, but this year`s floods are too much, I think it is because of this new reconstructed road which has blocked water from flowing away to the lake`` she said.
On his part, Kigongoni village chairman at Mto wa Mbu, Shaaban Ramadhan explained that due to the floods, communities living along the road have become the main victims as they have lost their assets, crops and they can`t cross the road anymore due to floods.
In Morogoro region for example, the Nglulumi bridge that links Mtibwa, Turian and Mvomero could not resist the power of floods hence giving residents of these areas a hard time.
Hadija Bakari, a resident of Turian village explained that since the rains started, the road infrastructure have been washed away giving them hard time when it comes to transport system.
Asha Abeid, a student at Lusanga Secondary school in Turiani, said that it is all about problems following the rains walking to school was not an easy task due to floods that have destroyed the roads and bridges.
On his part a Member of Parliament for Mvomero, Suleiman Sadiq Murad explained that the washing away of infrastructure was due to poor roads infrastructures in the district.
``If roads are well constructed, how come the caravats have been washed away just after the rains started? This shows how poor the workmanship is on the roads,`` the Member of parliament explained.
Exercising its power over poor infrastructure, floods did not spare Kinondoni municipal in Dar es Salaam. One week ago, the District municipal embarked on a heavy task of opening water outlets system at Msasani area.
The on the spot visit by the Guardian revealed that the most affected area was the bonde la Mpunga area where some houses and properties were submerged in water.
Venancy Kilasi, a resident of Bonde la Mpunga explained that the floods were caused by unplanned settlement in the area hence blocking water outlets as it used to be in the past.
He said filthy materials around the area have been the order of the day, something which may cause diarrhoea, cholera and other diseases.
Msasani ``A`` primary school was one of the most affected area where by the floods covered the whole area including the student`s classrooms and head teacher`s office during the floods that occurred in the past two weeks.
Speaking to the Guardian, Amos Martin a standard seven student at ``Msasani A Primary school in Kinondoni District`` said that due to unplanned settlement, some people had gone on building houses close to the school hence blocking water outlets something which might cause waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, Malaria and cholera.
The floods have not spared also Chanika residents in Ilala Municipality in Dar es Salaam.
Zingiziwa street residents in Chanika have been completely cut from the rest of the country due to the submerged bridge which links them with other parts of Ilala District, according to the ward counciluor Anjelina Malembeka.
``Since the bridge was washed away, life has become very difficult for the residents in this area due to shortage of food and other basic needs. Food prices have skyrocketed because residents cannot cross the bridge to shop on the other side anymore`` explains the ward counciluor.
Normally floods hit more the poor section of the community.
Since the beginning of rains in Dar es Salaam for example, sufferers have always been residents of Manzese, Tandale, Sinza, Buguruni kwa malapa and Kawe to name but a few.
Construction of unregulated shelters by poor people in slum areas, has reduced infiltration of rainfall, increasing runoff which would occur in natural terrain.
When sought for comments on the current rains, the former Director General of Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) Dr. Mohamed Mhita said that the rains are likely to stop between the end of April and June depending on the season of a particular place.
``I would say that the Southern, Western and Central part of Tanzania would experience the decrease in rains towards the end of April, but the rest of the country would continue witnessing the rains until the end of June`` said Dr. Mhita
It is a matter of fact that the current rains have come with a very big lesson for all Tanzanians.
The authorities for example need to address issues like unplanned settlements which trigger floods in some areas but the most important thing is that floods have also helped to assess the credibility of road contractors whose projects do not help to realize good value for tax payers money.
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