The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Bathuel Kinyori
2 July 2009
Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) has embarked on an ambitious programme to boost its haulage capacity to tap into freight cargo destined for DRC, Rwanda Burundi and Zambia.
To work closely with the Tanzania Ports Authority and Ticts, the railway network hopes to capture freights landing at the Dar es Salaam Port for haulage to the landlocked countries.
This was revealed yesterday by Tazara deputy managing director, Mr Damas Ndumbaro, during press conference called to commemorate 33 years of service by the railway authority sicne its inception on July 1, 1976.
"When Tazara took off, it had a total of 100 locomotives, but currently there are only 22 locomotives. We intend to boost our capacity by repairing the defective ones.
The strategic plan for the entity includes reviving six defective locomotives, at least one each year at the cost of $4.8 million, the deputy Tazara chief explained.
The move, he explained, is inline with the Government's efforts to reduce congestion at the port.
Currently, the flow of goods from the port to inland destinations is done mainly by trucks, which caters for over 93 per cent of cargo, the remaining 7 per cent is done by rail.
One train has the capacity to haul an equivalent of 60 truck load.
Also in the pipeline, is a plan to have a special train to ferry soccer fans to the World Cup matches in South Africa next year via Zambia, during the whole period of the soccer event.
He said authority's management has also reduced transit time to four days, while turn around time (time it takes a train complete a circuit from Dar to Capri Point), has gone down to 14 days from 20.
"Presently, we do not depend on any of the two governments for subsidy to run the network. We now spend own funds," Mr Ndumbaro stated.
The entity rakes in an average of $3 million per month, which is adequate to pay both workers salaries and fund Tazara development programmes.
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