Dodoma — POWER cuts in Dar es Salaam will soon become a thing of the past, as the government has started overhauling and rehabilitating the worn out transmission and distribution electricity infrastructure.

The Deputy Minister for Energy and Minerals, Mr Stephen Masele, said his ministry through the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Ltd (TANESCO) has prepared master plans for rehabilitating, improving and build electricity infrastructure in the Dar es Salaam City.

Mr Masele said various projects worth about 91.4bn/-set to be completed during this financial year, have also taken into consideration the growth and expansion of the city. He was responding to the main question from Ms Mariam Kisangi (Special Seats - CCM) who wanted to know the government's plans to address challenges arising from expansion of the city and the issue of electricity.

The Deputy Minister said projects being implemented in the city include a project jointly funded by the government of Finland and the government of Tanzania to a tune of 26.5 million Euros which will focus at the city centre, Sokoine and Kariakoo.

Another project is being funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) which will rehabilitate electricity transformers at Sokoine and Ilala which will cost US 7.6 million dollars.

Other projects include the Tanzania Energy Development Access Project (TEDAP) being funded by the World Bank (WB) to a tune of US 15.6 million dollars which focuses in connecting 10 new transformers in Chang'ombe and Kariakoo, six transformers in the city centre, Factory I and II, Mburahati, Mikocheni and Oysterbay areas.

Mr Masele said the government is also putting in US 0.584 million dollars to the projects which are at different stages of implementation in many areas of the City of Dar es Salaam.

"All these projects that are in various stages of implementation across the City of Dar es Salaam are set to be finished this financial years and will address the issue of power cuts in the city," the deputy Minister explained. He said the government will continue to prepare and implement strategic plans to address challenges arising from the growing city including ensuring availability of electricity at all times.

This was in response to a supplementary question from Rajab Mbarouk (Ole -CUF) who wanted to know findings from house to house assessment being carried out by Tanesco to determine those illegally connected. The Deputy Minister acknowledged that the exercise was still on, adding the assessment will be extended to other parts of the country.

Mr Masele called on the public to be vigilant and reveal culprits stealing transformer oil, noting that Tanesco cannot have security officials at every transformer post.

"It is true that some people steal fuel from transformers although some are due to technical faults. We call upon the public to report anyone stealing transformer fuel, Tanesco cannot have a guard at every transformer centre," he explained.