By Special Correspondent
Efforts
in bringing about tangible economic development in Tanzania
by the
Fifth Phase Government under His Excellency Dr John Pombe Magufuli are
increasingly being made following the completion of the massive
expansion of Berth No. 1 of Dar es Salaam Port.
The
Director General of the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), Eng. Deusdediti
Kakoko, has said the port expansion project, completed by 100 percent,
has cost Tsh336.7 billion.
"The completed
expansion of the project will be witnessed by the Minister for Works,
Transport and Communications when a ship docks for the first time next
week," said Eng Kakoko.
Eng. Kakoko has said
that the expansion project has enhanced the capacity of the jetty with a
192m length to handle at a go two big ships weighing 45,000 to 60,000
tonnes after the expansion of a 11.5m base supported by concrete pillars
constructed 70m deep the Indian Ocean.
For
his part, Dar es Salaam Port Director Fredy Liundi has said after the
contractor handing over the jetty a few days to come, he will be
assigned to carry out another expansion project of Berth No. 2, whose
construction will be expected to be completed in March next year.
However, he said the expansion project would continue to Berth No.7.
Speaking
over the expansion project of the RoRo Berth that handles vehicles and a
car parking, Liundi said, "the project was supposed to have been
completed, but the contractor faced the challenge of bad soil and thus
he had to find good soil fill it up.
“So, the construction of the expansion project is expected to be completed and handed over in June next year."
According
to TPA Director General Eng. Kakoko, upon its completion the RoRo Berth
will enable the port to receive 10,000 vehicles per day from a capacity
of receiving 2,500 vehicles per day and that per year 200,000 vehicles
will be expected to be received from 90,000 vehicles per year.
“Upon
the completion of the Berth, there will be major transformations as we
will be able to receive a ship carrying 3000 to 5000 vehicles, which
will be offloaded per day,” he said.
He
insisted that members of the public and other stakeholders, particularly
shipping agencies, should get ready and stop entertaining gossip that
ships were delayed longer than expected to offload cargo.
He
said they had only 12 ships and that there was a time only 18 ships had
docked at the port, calling upon the public to have peace with their
government that was working.
The expansion of
the Berth will be in line with the expansion of the port gate by
increasing the depth from 10 to16 meters, whereby currently a
feasibility study is being carried out and that in June next year
excavation works will officially start.
“Our
intention is that until December next year we should have constructed
berths from Zero Berth to Berth No.3 and the expansion of the gate
completed so we can receive world class ships with the depth of 15
meters and with a capacity of carrying 6000 containers unlike the
current ships that carry only 2500 containers,” said Kakoko.
He
added, “Shipping stakeholders should get prepared as ships will be
letting one another pass like what daladala buses do. This port is
located in the area geographically blessed by God in this African region
from Egypt to South Africa as for now global business has shifted to
the Eastern side from the Western side.
“So, in the next three years we are sure of restoring the glory of Dar es Salaam Port,” he insisted.
Clarifying
further over the project, TPA Contractual Services Director Charles
Ogale said the project involved an increase in depth from six to 12.9
meters from the sea level after a low tide, a width of 34meters and a
length of 320 meters and the construction of a yard with 69,000 square
meters.
He said the construction of ‘Zero Berth’ to Berth No. 7 started in Juni 2017 and was expected to be completed on June 29, 2020.
”This expansion project has enhanced the Berth’s capacity of handling big ships without any problems,” he said.
Ends
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