THE Union of Retired Permanent Secretaries (UMWATA) has appealed to the public to protect the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) infrastructure for the current and future generation.

Michael Mwanda, UMWATA chairman made the appeal over the weekend in Morogoro region after inspecting the on-going drive test. 

He  said that  the government has massively invested in the construction of the infrastructure therefore, it was very important for the public to play the role of protecting to avoid vandalism.

He expressed satisfaction on the implementation of the project so far adding that it was  very important to involve the public to safeguard the infrastructure. 

Mwanda underscored the importance of the project as a means of transport saying that it will benefit both the country and the neighbouring country. 

“Let us remind the people to play their role of safeguarding our rail in order to realize the target of the project to be a hub, ”he said. 

According to him, stern measures must be taken to those found vandalizing the rail infrastructure in the country.

Deputy Permanen Secretary, Ministry for Transport, Dr Ally Possi expressed the government commitment of transporting goods and passengers. 

“The government has adopted open access to allow the private sector to operate train operations in the SGR. This will enable the government to recoup construction costs, ”he said. 

Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) Board chairman expressed the valuable contribution of the former permanent secretaries promising to take their advice to foster development. 

Amina Limuli, TRC Acting Director General gave the update of the project saying the first section Dar es Salaam-Morogoro was over 98 percent.

 She said the preparation for the Dar es Salaam-Morogoro-Dodoma section was underway.

She said that for the case of Morogoro –Dodoma section it had reached over 96 percent and engineers had started electrical testing.

 “We are ready to start operations in July this year. Nearly all rolling stocks have already arrived,” she said.

Limuli called on the public to protect the rails infrastructure for the future generation adding that the government had invested over 23trn/-

“We are finalizing the operational manual that will be to new investors and TRC to start operation based on the manuals,” she said.