Dodoma — THE government has highlighted a number of benefits to be obtained after the Parliament endorsed the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between Tanzania and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), focusing on social-economic partnership for developing and improving performance of ports in the country.
Minister for Works and Transport, Professor Makame Mbarawa, on Saturday outlined 14 expected benefits of the agreement, including application of modern technology and system that will make ports operations fast and effective, thus increasing revenue.
Prof Mbarawa also pointed out that the implementation of the document will assure ports workers of their employment security, because the agreement has set measures to increase employment opportunities from 28,990 in 2021/22 to 71,907 come 2032/33.
He told the Parliament that the increase in employment opportunities is set at 148 per cent.
The minister said average number of days for a vessel to stay at the port will be reduced to 24 hours from the current five days, thus increasing efficiency.
Furthermore, it will increase the number of ships docking at the Dar es Salaam Port from 1,569 in 2021/22 to 2,950 vessels by 2032/33.
Prof Mbarawa went on to argue that if implemented, the agreement will enable the port use only two days to offload containers from the ship, unlike present when the port spends up to four days.
On the part of bulk cargo, the port will have capacity of offloading within one hour while currently it spends 12 hours.
"This is a result of improvement of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructures," the minister informed MPs.
For customers using the Dar es Salaam Port to ship containerised cargo destined for Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, the transport cost per container will be cut down by half from 12,000 US dollars to between 6,000 and 7,000 US dollars.
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The number of customers using the ports are expected to double as well as increase in cargo volume from 18.41 million tonnes in 2021/22 to 47.57 million tonnes by 2032/33, an increase that is almost 158 per cent.
The cargo volume increase will see a rise in revenue and tax collection from 7.76tri/- in 2021/22 financial year to 26.7tri/- in 2032/33, equivalent to 244 per cent increase.
Moreover, the government will benefit from upgrading of the storage facilities to handle all types of cargoes.
The berths, he said, will be expanded so that they can accommodate canoes, passenger boats as well as huge tourism ships, consequently increasing the number of tourists.
The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) staff will undergo capacity building training for knowledge and skills transfer, hence improving ports efficiency.
The IGA also requires setting up of special industrial and economic zones as well as ICT systems that are connected to ports' operations for transparency.
The implementation of the agreement will contribute to the development of other sectors, such as agriculture, livestock and fisheries, therefore attaining economic benefits from industries, trade and transport.
