GOVERNMENT on Saturday reiterated benefits that Tanzanians will get from its partnership with Dubai in the operation of the Port of Dar es Salaam.
The benefits include improvements of efficiency of operations among other at the Port of Dar es Salaam that will lead to an increase of its annual revenue collection from 7.7tri/- to 26tri/-.
Addressing members of the press on Saturday, Government Chief Spokesperson Gerson Msigwa said the decision to partner with the Dubai-based DP World Company in the port operation considered multiple benefits that Tanzania will get.
Mr Msigwa made the statement in response to debates regarding the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between Tanzania and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) concerning partnership on ports developments.
The IGA concerning Economic and Social Partnership for the Development and Improving Performance of the Ports in Tanzania was signed on February 28th, last year between the implementation institutions that are Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and the DP World.
"DP World is so prepared and organised in operating ports so far it runs 190 facilities in 70 countries across the world," he said, assuring that the government has no intention of privatising the Dar es Salaam Port and it will never be so.
Elaborating, he noted that the cooperation between the two governments aims at enhancing efficiency of the ports' services and creating more jobs among others.
He went on to explain that the cooperation is also aimed at opening up new economic opportunities through investments in some areas of the Dar es Salaam Port, Special Economic and Industrial Zones.
This will play a big role in complementing the government's efforts in industrialisation as well as investing in the whole transport value chain from Tanzania ports to the neighbouring countries.
"DP World has enough experience in ports operation, apart from running 190 ports in 70 countries, they are also running the dry port in Rwanda which handles 50,000 containers and this is a great advantage for Tanzania," he noted.
DP World meets international standards for the port to be more competitive as it is capable of bringing a permanent solution to cargo shipped from the point of origin to the client within a short period of time.
"It is an international company with a proper network and vast experience in the shipping industry," explained Mr Msigwa.
Speaking in the parliament recently, Minister for Works and Transport Prof Makame Mbarawa said that inviting the private sector in the operation of the port is a phenomenon that is unavoidable in the current world.
"As a country, we have no reason to fear when it comes to using Public Private Partnership (PPP) in operating the port. Countries that are using the private sector in their ports have recorded huge success," said the minister, when winding up his budget estimates for the year 2023/24.
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He noted that the Port of Dar es Salaam contributes 7.78tri/- which is equivalent to 37 per cent of the total customs revenue.
He said improved efficiency at the port would reduce the ship anchorage stay from five days to 24 hours as well as cut down the time for container offloading from four days to an average of 18 hours.
"This will also help in reducing clearance time from 2 hours to 30 minutes while increasing the volume of cargo from average 20.18 million tonnes per year to 47.57 million tonnes," he told the Parliamentarians.
Other benefits will be protecting and expanding the employment chain to around 29 million people as well as lowering the cost of transportation on goods being imported to Tanzania.
The minister went on to explain that the PPP approach at the port of Dar es Salaam will also stimulate railway transportation that has received huge investment from the government.
