New dawn as stakeholders commit to bring efficiency at ports

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New dawn as stakeholders commit to bring efficiency at ports
New dawn as stakeholders commit to bring efficiency at ports

Africa-PressTanzania. THE ports in the country are set to further minimize time for handling cargos as the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and its stakeholders opt to have performance agreement in place.

The agreement is envisioned to ensure that each partner becomes responsible in facilitating cargos’ clearance at the ports, mainly the Dar es Salaam Port as a case study.

Speaking during a meeting on Friday, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication, Gabriel Migire (transport), said his office is doing everything in its capacity to address the problem of congestion at the port, and ensure smooth loading and offloading of cargo.

The meeting brought together the PS, TPA Officials, public and private players, where the stakeholders resolved to enter the agreement in order to improve efficiency.

“We want to have standard time of serving trucks entering our ports,” Mr Migire stated, adding that the aim was to address congestion of vehicles entering the ports for loading and offloading cargo.

Elaborating, he said since he was appointed to the post his primary assignment was to ensure that the problem of congestion of trucks on roads heading to the Dar es Salaam Port is resolved.

Mr Migire said many challenges hindering smooth operations of the ports, particularly the Dar es Salaam Port, have been addressed.

As one of resolutions, the meeting managed to acquire a land for parking with capacity to accommodate 300 trucks with others standby waiting to enter and load, instead of queuing on roads.

“Several challenges have been addressed…during the meeting the government resolved to address challenges facing the ports and improve efficiency for economic benefits,” he pointed out.

Commenting, the Chairperson of the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), Ms Angelina Ngalula, said the meeting, which was attended by representatives from 32 public and private institutions, was a milestone.

“To have efficiency at ports, all these institutions need to be well coordinated, therefore, this meeting has come up with measures to effectively coordinate them,” Ms Ngalula noted.

Equally, she said the joint meeting proved the real intention of President Samia Suluhu Hassan to enhance cooperation between the public and private sector players, as far as trade and investment is concerned.

In emphasis, TPSF Chairperson further said that the Dar es Salaam Port still has many untapped opportunities to make it grow at a high rate from current annual growth of 3 per cent.

However, Ms Ngalula was optimistic that the envisioned agreement will improve the performance of the Port, because any institution would be accountable for any delay caused in cargo handling.

On his part, TPA’s Director-General, Mr Eric Hamissi, said the meeting was part of current efforts to effectively engage the private sector in the operations of the ports.

“We can’t operate efficiently without involving stakeholders and hear their challenges. We at TPA do business and business people are the ones, who mostly bring revenue to the ports,” he pointed out.

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