Plans outlined
for Dar’s facelift
By Timothy Kitundu
The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project has taken off, following the signing of a
contract last week between the Dare es Salaam City Council (DCC) and M/S Logit
Engenharia Consultiva Ltd. of Brazil in association with Inter-Consult Tanzania.
The two consultancy firms will undertake a long-term conceptual design and
detailed design of an initial corridor. The construction phase of the project
will start shortly after the ten-month preliminary stage.
According to DCC Director Wilson Mukama, the BRT system which is being
undertaken by the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit (DART) Project will have in place
by August 2005 a demonstration BRT station and a BRT prototype bus, at Manzese
area along the proposed 13 km road stretch.
According to Mukama, the DCC opted for the BRT system after making intensive
assessment, and discovering that it was more viable and easier to run compared
to other systems such as trams and metros.
“The 200 passenger capacity buses would greatly reduce traffic congestion and
environmental pollution at the city centre, as opposed to the present situation
whereby over 7,000 commuter buses operate in the city,” he said.
In terms of infrastructure, Mukama said that the DART project will take
advantage of the existing major roads namely Morogoro road, Mandela Expressway,
Nyerere Road, Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Kilwa Road.
Earlier in his presentation of the BRT system, former mayor of Bogotá Enrique
Penalosa said that Dar es Salaam will be transformed into a city for people and
not a city for cars and that one of the challenges of the project will be
restricting the use of private cars at the city centre.
“BRT will also aim at creating and putting emphasis on an environment for people
and not for cars as what is being introduced (BRT) is not a transport system per
se but rather a city model,” Penalosa said.
According to Penalosa, Tanzania is endowed with vast tourist attractions such as
waterfronts which could have attracted more tourists in the country had the
appropriate infrastructure been put in place – these are pedestrians streets and
cycle-tracks.
“Almost all open spaces seem to be reserved for cars but tourists like to walk,”
he said.
Citing an example, Penalosa said, restricting the use of private cars at Dar es
Salaam’s city centre won’t be new – because in Zurich, Europe’s wealthiest city,
60 per cent of its residents use public transport while 20 per cent walk or use
bikes.
In terms of traffic jams he said, in Bogotá for example, to ease congestion 20
per cent of those using public transport (BRT) are car owners.
The giant project is being jointly funded by the World Bank, Global
Environmental Facility (GEF), the central government and the DCC which has set
aside some Tsh. 150 million for the project. Each municipal council will pay
Tsh. 50 million.
Revenue lost
from forest
By Bonventure Mtalimbo, Morogoro
The government loses between Tsh. 11 billion and Tsh. 16 billion
annually because of inadequate revenue collection from forest and bee keeping.
Retired forest game reserve official, Alfred Kikombe, said this in Morogoro
recently in an interview with The Express.
According to Kikombe, poor revenue collection from the sale of timber, charcoal,
honey and wax products are a result of having few civil servants working with
the issues, and the meagre budget they are given.
He urged the Ministry of Natural Resources and tourism to improve the situation.
Bank commits
itself to SMEs
By Timothy Kitundu
The Standard Chartered Bank Tanzania early this week launched a new
product known as Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Banking, aimed at assisting
SMEs, constituting 30 per cent of the country’s GDP and vital for the country’s
economic growth.
Formerly, the bank SMEs were supported through business financial banking, but
the bank hopes that the new product will allow more flexibility.
Speaking during the launching of the product in Dar es Salaam, the bank’s CEO,
Hemen Shah, said that they have decided to work with SMEs to enable them to
expand their businesses.
“Through SME banking, we are able to provide a comprehensive range of commercial
bank solutions through a unique balance of portfolio and relationship
management,” Shah said.
Mwanahiba Ramadhan, General Manager, SME Banking said that the bank, through SME
banking, is willing to take more risks.
“To us when a customer under the new product comes with an application for a
loan, the question of security should be the last to be asked, we would be more
interested with his or her business rather than the collateral or security,” she
said.
US supports
anti-money laundering efforts
By Timothy Kitundu
The US government has donated a total of Tsh. 80 million to the
Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG), to boost its
efforts to build a strong and effective regional network against money
laundering and terrorist financing.
The US government is one of the two cooperating and supporting nations of
ESAAMLG, the other is Britain, which has been involved with the Group since its
inception.
A statement issued by the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam reveals that the support
which was presented to the Group’s Secretariat in Dar es Salaam enabled the
Secretariat to hold a capacity building workshop in Mombasa, Kenya.
According to US Embassy Official Jefferson Smith, the US recognizes the
importance of ESAAMLG in combating money laundering and financial crimes
throughout the region, and the Tanzanian government has also shown great support
for providing office space for the Group’s Secretariat.
“Tanzania has already worked to establish its own anti-money laundering
legislation, which, if passed and implemented, will make the country one of the
region’s leaders in combating financial crime,” he noted.
Companies come
together for exhibition
By Express Reporter
More than 60 companies both local and foreign are participating in
an exhibition having started yesterday, and continuing until April 8 in Dar es
Salaam.
The Minister for Water and Livestock Development, Edward Lowassa, officiated as
guest of honour at the exhibition at the Diamond Jubilee Hall.
Speaking to The Express in Dar es Salaam early this week, the Managing Director
of ACE Event Management (main organiser of the show), Tracey Nolan-Shaw, said
about 25 per cent of the participating companies come from Tanzania.
“The exhibition will provide a great chance for local, private and public sector
personnel to enquire about and view the latest equipment and techniques from
both Africa and the rest of the world,” she said.
She mentioned some of the companies that had confirmed their participation as
Degremont, Simba Plastics, Tanzania Petroleum Services, Plasco and Tanira Pumps.
She commended the three Ministries of Energy and Minerals, Water and Livestock
Development and Works for collaborative efforts, which had made the event a
success.
Other organizations, which have supported the exhibition, are the National
Construction Council (NCC) and the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and
Agriculture (TCCIA).
Low-tech
farming techniques blamed for low harvests
By Timothy Kitundu
Heavy reliance on hand-hoe technology, coupled with low levels of mechanization
and dependence on family labour, have been cited as the major factors causing
low harvest yields of agricultural crops in Tabora Region.
According to a recent report on the region, it is estimated that about 74 per
cent of Tabora farmers are using hand hoes while 26 per cent are using ox-drawn
ploughs and tractors in various agricultural operations.
The mechanization level in the region, which is still in its early stages
according to the report, is represented by the presence of only 152 tractors.
“High risk in agriculture due to unpredictable rainfall and drought spells
constitute a serious barrier to investment in this sector,” reads part of the
report.
The report also cites a low use of agricultural inputs as another impediment
towards the achievement of high crop yields.
A good example can be cited during the 2003/04 season, where the fertilizers-use
target was 30,372 tonnes but the actual quantity used was only 15,685 tonnes.
The region also expected to use 1,225.3 tonnes of improved seeds but the
quantity used was 793.6 tonnes. A total of 91,300 litres of agro-chemicals was
targeted to be used while only 19,942 litres were used.
As a result, yields per hectare have not met the targets. Actual production of
maize per hectare is 1.3 tonnes instead of the optimum production of 3.5 tonnes
per hectare; while paddy yields per hectare is only 1.7 tonnes instead of 2.7
tonnes.
The actual production of sorghum is 1.0 tonne per hectare while the optimum
production is 2.5 tonnes; that of cassava is 2.7 tonnes instead of 5.0 tonnes
per hectare, and the actual production of sweet potatoes is 2.6 tonnes while the
optimum production is 5.0 tonnes per hectare.
In terms of cash crops, the trend is the same. Actual production of tobacco is
0.7 tonne while optimum production is 2.0 tonnes per hectare; as for groundnuts,
actual production is 0.8 tonne while optimum production is 2.0 tonnes.
Cotton, one of the major cash crops in the region as far as actual production is
concerned records 0.5 tonne instead of 1.7 tonnes optimum production per
hectare, while sunflower recorded an actual production of 0.4 tonne while
optimum production is 1.5 tonnes per hectare.
Private-public
initiatives throw light and bear fruit
By Express Reporter
The rural electrification project under ABB, the Swiss-Swedish
engineering group, has revolutionised life in Ngarambe village, Kasulu District
in Kigoma Region, creating a favourable environment for secondary school
students.
Teachers in Ngarambe, are celebrating. While last year just one student passed
the secondary school exam, this year 11 students succeeded; particularly because
students now can do their homework and study at night.
Through a scheme called Growing Sustainable Business (GSB), the United Nations
Development Programme is brokering partnerships between companies and
non-governmental organisations or local government bodies.
In ABB’s case the project partner is the World Wildlife Fund, and the UNDP hopes
that, through alliances such as this, it can reduce investment risk sufficiently
to encourage foreign and domestic companies to invest in commercially viable
businesses that will foster growth in developing countries.
The UN’s increasingly close relationship with business comes at a time when
governments and international agencies are starting to reassess assistance to
the developing world.
Richard Sandbrook, special adviser to the UNDP, believes that, if this private
sector energy is to be harnessed in the reduction of poverty, the profit-making
element of the GSB, or similar schemes, is crucial.
While the business activities are commercial, not philanthropic, participating
companies are structuring their projects in a variety of ways. For some,
philanthropic funding does enter the picture, but as a pump-priming tool through
which to develop pro-poor markets.
While these organisations would not run their entire business on these lines, he
explains, they are prepared to operate certain projects at a lower rate of
return in order to develop new markets. “It essentially gives the same return as
if they put that money on the overnight market,” he says.
Tetra Pak, the carton manufacturer – which is working to improve the links
between milk production, processing and consumption in Tanzania – has created a
separate business unit through which to operate GSB projects and similar
activities.
“The business case for us is to grow our future markets. That’s why we’re in
this,” says Ulla Holm, global director at Tetra Pak’s Food for Development unit.
“So we’ve set up Food for Development as a separate office that can work on a
more long-term basis than a market-driven company.”
However, participating companies say that the brokerage role of the UN in
fostering private-public initiatives has already proved its worth. Without the
partnership with WWF, which had spent several years in Ngarambe establishing
social structures, ABB’s electrification project would have been extremely
difficult.
“To go out to a village and start from scratch would be impossible,” he says.
“But if you go to a place where other organisations are doing things and an NGO
is already working, the risk reduces considerably when you bring in other
infrastructure,” says Anders Nordstrom, senior project manager at ABB.
BoT reveals
interest-rate rise
By Timothy Kitundu
The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has said that interest rates on domestic currency
denominated deposits registered a marginal increase during the first half of the
fiscal year 2004/05.
BoT Governor Daudi Ballali said, through the 2004/05 midterm review of the
monetary policy statement, the average saving deposit rate moved to 2.6 per cent
at end December from 2.4 per cent in July 2004 while time deposits rate remained
stable at 4.4 per cent.
He said commercial banks’ lending rates, on the other hand, exhibited a
declining trend over the review period. The rates for short-term loans of up to
1-year declined from 15.5 per cent to 13.2 per cent.
For medium-term loans (3-5 years), he added, lending rates fell from 12.7 per
cent to 10.8 per cent whereas for long-term loans (above 5 years), rates dropped
from 13.5 per cent to 8.6 per cent.
“Consequently, the overall weighted average lending rate also declined from 14.2
per cent in July 2004 to 12.8per cent in December 2004,” he stressed.
According to Ballali, similarly, the interest rate spread, measured by the
difference between 12-month savings deposit and 1-year lending rates, declined
from 9.8 percentage points in July 2004 to 7.8 percentage points in December
2004.
Minister
cancels 1,500 licences
By Kim Aidan, Morogoro
The Ministry of Works has cancelled the licences of a total of 1,500 contractors
and expelled from the country another 270 foreign contractors after they failed
to perform their duties satisfactorily.
John Magufuli said this last weekend in Morogoro Municipality, when reading an
implementation report of Chalinze-Malela Road Project to President Mkapa.
The Minister said the contractors had their licences cancelled after failing to
perform the contract works to accepted standards, as directed by the Ministry of
Works.
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