Tanzania is facing shortage of qualified personnel in aviation sector to endure safety, security and efficiency in air transportation, the minister for Infrastructure Development, Dr Shukuru Kawambwa has said.

Opening a two-week training on aviation safety programmes and safety management systems for Eastern and Southern Africa region in Dar es Salaam on Monday, Dr Kawambwa said the problem was not confined to Tanzania alone.

He pointed out that several African counties were facing similar problem, necessitating a regional strategy to address the shortcoming.

Dr Kawambwa said Tanzania just like many other African countries does not have enough training institutions to groom aviation professionals.

"There is a need for African countries to collaborate and assist each other to face these challenges," said Dr Kawambwa, adding: "I recommend ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) to enhance its support and guidance to ensure that aviation safety in Africa improved."

He said Tanzania has set a strategy to involve other stakeholders in the formulation of policies that would ensure that aviation in the country remains safe while contributing to the economic development.

The Minister said aviation safety was an important concern to the Government as well as East and Southern Africa thus, an occurrence involving international air transport may not be fully isolated to a particular state, citing the Yemen Air accident in Comoro Island as an example.

"It was a surprise that some bodies were recovered some 582 kilometres away from the epicentre of the accident," said the Minister when referring to the disaster.

H said lessons learnt from such incidence should raise determination and awareness in handling aviation safety issues.

He said because of the Comoro incident, the Government has directed the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) to concentrate on safety management rather than disaster prevention.

In order to improve the aviation sector, the minister said, the government was planning to upgrade seven airports in Arusha, Mwanza, Shinyanga, Kigoma and Sumabwanga.

He said the Government in collaboration with the World Bank, had already carried out feasibility studies in those areas to find out costs and other important issues pertaining to the implementation of the project.

Earlier, Mr Geoffrey Moshabesha, the ICAO East African regional director said lack of policies, regulatory structure and ability to retain qualified personnel were some of the factors contributing to unavailability of qualified personnel in aviation discipline.

He said to tackle the challenges several capacity building training programmes have been set to take place to develop African instructors in the sector.