Minister of State in the President's Office (Regional Administration and Local Governments), Ms Angellah Kairuki ,has directed the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit (DART) to complete installation of smartcard system by February next year and do away with paper tickets.

Ms Kairuki gave the order on Tuesday in Dar es Salaam during a launch of the DART Advisory Board.

"I would not like to see paper tickets. We need to use standard system that cannot be tampered with," she said, adding that the smartcard system will make it easier and eliminate queues for passengers.

She said it was good for the DART to evaluate their performance with the aim of improving public transport because it is now 15 years since started offering the services.

She also asked the DART to put in place better strategies to look at Dar es Salaam as a city that continues to grow in a speedy pace.

"As the population grows, the increase has to be in line with the development of infrastructures to address transport challenge," she said.

Ms Kairuki ordered DART to be more creative in introducing more sources of revenues, saying that apart from bus fares they could also use an opportunity of digital advertisements as another source of income.

Either, Minister Kairuki told DART to consider introducing their services in other cities in the country, while Dar es Salaam projects are ongoing. She mentioned some of cities that deserve having DART services as Mbeya, Mwanza, Tanga and Arusha.

"These cities would also like to have this kind of transport. DART should see how they can do in other cities," he said.

DART Chief Executive Officer, Dr Edwin Mhede, said that Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project has become a model in transport sector in African cities. He said the role of the DART is to establish and develop rapid bus transport systems in Dar es Salaam.