Africa-Press – Tanzania. The National Institute of Transport (NIT) has said the fourth five-year strategic plan will guide it in executing its mandates as stipulated in the establishing instrument in the process of transforming the economy to realise competitiveness and industrialization for human development by 2025/26.
The fourth five-year strategic plan (FYRSP IV) 2021/22 — 2025/26 was developed in accordance with the Country’s 2021 Medium Term Strategic Planning and Budgeting Manual.
“The plan was prepared in a participatory approach. The Institution’s situational analysis and end term evaluation were carried out which led to the development of the 4th FYRSP 2021/22 – 2025/26,” the NIT Rector Prof Zacharia Mganilwa told participants of the external stakeholders’ workshop held in Dar es Salaam recently.
Prof Mganilwa added, “During the implementation of FYRSP III (2016/17-2020/21), NIT registered many achievements and challenges in the course of executing the seven (7) Plan objectives.”
He named the plan objectives as staff recruitment and capacity building, increase in training programmes, an increase of programmes and enrollment of students, expansion of infrastructure, acquisition of state of the art training equipment and facilities, the establishment of a centre of excellence.
Others are the establishment of entrepreneurship and business incubation centre, improvement of internal revenue, land acquisition in Lindi, Dodoma and Kilimanjaro and Enhanced industry and stakeholder’s linkage.
He disclosed other achievements as established centres of excellences in aviation and transport operations financed by the World Bank as well in road safety financed by Africa Development Bank (AfDB) and establishment of entrepreneurship and business incubation centre.
He said that the internally generated revenue increased from 10.38bn/- in 2016/17 to 21.76bn/-in 2020/21, an increase of 110 per cent.
“Other achievements in the past rolling strategic plan including the acquisition of 125 acres in Kikwetu Lindi for the construction of the College of Maritime and Petroleum Technology,” he said.
Adding, “We are also on the final stage to acquire 1005 acres in Kitelela Msalato Dodoma to establish College of Railway Transport Technology.”
Apart from that, he said: “We leased 60 hectares at KIA to establish the government Flying School, acquired two plots at Njedengwa in Dodoma (1,505 and 1,502 m2) for construction of student and staff rest house and we have also established an Industrial Advisory Committee to enhance the linkage between NIT and the stakeholder’s.”
Prof Mganilwa mentioned some of the challenges that the Institute faced when implementing the just ended rolling strategic plan as inadequate government funding for learning infrastructure and facilities, brain drain due to inadequate staff remuneration and retirement benefits as well as inadequate government funding for research.
“In the just ended rolling strategic plan, we have also observed the inadequate collaboration between tertiary institutions and organized private sectors, inadequate of specialized expertise in Tanzania to some modes of transport such as pipeline, shipping, railways, and air transport as well as the outbreak of pandemic diseases such as Covid-19 and higher cost for training transport professionals overseas,” he said.
