TANZANIA Rural and Urban Roads Agency (Tarura) has promised to fix 85 percent of all bad roads in the country measuring 144, 429, 077 kilometres in the next two years.

Victor Seff, Tarura chief executive officer, made the pledge in Morogoro Region recently during Tarura Workers’ Council meeting which evaluated its budget for 2024/2025 financial year to be tabled in the National Assembly by Minister for Works Innocent Bashungwa next month.

Seff said that the main goal of the strategy is to make sure that roads are passable at all times to stimulate economic development and facilitate access to social services easily

He said that the 144, 429, 077 kilometres of roads are unpaved and users face challenges particularly in rainy seasons, sometimes causing the whole country to halt its economic activities.

He said that 44 percent of roads have a good network, including over 3,200km that are paved and over 41,000km of gravel roads.

Seff said that organising such a worker council is a step towards involving employees so that they can significantly contribute to the budget.

“The main goal of this council meeting is to involve employees in the operations of the institution to improve their interests in order to expedite the achievement of our objectives,” he said.

Tanzania Mines and Construction Workers Union (TAMICO) secretary general Paternus Rwechungura urged Tarura, specifically engineers and construction professionals, not to hesitate to cooperate with builders’ association to collaborate with their counterparts, including Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS), in exchanging experience in the construction sector.

Rwechungura advised the agency to monitor and repair rural and urban roads to ensure provision of transportation services are efficient and reliable at all seasons.