Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE government has dished out a total of 52bn/- to the National Institute of Transport (NIT) over the past four years for the objective of enhancing training in the transport sector.
Also, a total of 5bn/- has been allocated through the Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS) purposely to set up the Regional Centre of Excellence for Road Safety, funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The investment covers the procurement of teaching equipment and capacity building for trainers to align with advancements in science and technology.
Speaking to reporters in Dodoma yesterday, NIT Rector, Dr Prosper Mgaya said under the sixth-phase government, about 6bn/- has been allocated to facilitate the institute’s aviation training programme, which has already secured accreditation from the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA).
Dr Mgaya emphasised that launching aviation training at NIT will significantly reduce dependency on foreign pilots, whose costs are substantial.
“Training pilots locally at a public institution will lower costs by 50-60 per cent compared to training abroad, ultimately saving foreign exchange,” he noted.
To support the initiative, the government has allocated 1.5bn/- for training five instructors in South Africa, averaging 300m/- per trainer.
Moreover, two Cessna 172 single-engine training aircraft, valued at 2.9bn/- , have been procured and are already in the country.
Dr Mgaya added that plans are underway to acquire three more aircraft, including a twinengine aircraft and two singleengine planes for training purposes. The aircraft, worth 5.9bn/-, are set to arrive in October 2025 and 2026.
The government has allocated 60 acres of land at Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) for aviation training, with infrastructure development ongoing.
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During the particular period, the government funded the training of eight instructors in Ethiopia, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and China at a total cost of 350m/-.
He added that the institute has also received 24.9bn/- from the government for the construction of five buildings at its Mabibo main campus in Dar es Salaam and the project has now reached 97 per cent of completion.
In the past four years, the government has allocated 1.2bn/- for instructor licensing in aircraft maintenance engineering, with eight trainers completing their certification.
“Two of trainers trained in the United States, while six studied in Ethiopia. Two more are currently undergoing training in Ethiopia at the Ethiopian Aviation Academy,” Dr Mgaya added.
NIT holds international accreditation from TCAA and has so far trained 125 cabin crew members, with 65 graduates securing employment in the formal sector where the government invested 9.1bn/- in modern training equipment to enhance learning.
The institute is implementing the East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP), through which it will receive 21.25 US dollar million (about 49bn/-) to establish the Centre of Excellence in Aviation and Transport Operations (CoEATO).
Furthermore, the government, through TANROADS has allocated 5bn/- for setting up the Regional Centre of Excellence for Road Safety.
The project has been funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the centre is designed to serve the East African nations.
Moving forward, Dr Mgaya said that NIT aims to secure global accreditation for its aviation training programmes, enabling it to offer training and certification on behalf of aviation authorities such as TCAA and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
Initial discussions with EASA have been conducted, with a preliminary assessment already carried out.
The institute has also signed a cooperation agreement with the Ethiopian Aviation University to strengthen training capacity in aviation licensing courses.
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