Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE best are yet to come; it does not mean to wait but to act accordingly to tap the opportunities in the near future after the MV Mwanza ‘Hapa Kazi Tu’ starts its operations.
The proceeds from its operations will become ‘gold’ as the giant ship will add weight to demand in all walks of life.
Mv Mwanza ‘Hapa Kazi Tu’, which is the giant ship in the East African history ever to exist – 92.6 metre long, 20 metre high and 17 metre wide is now floating on Lake Victoria, ready for final touches as its construction has reached 82 per cent bringing greater expectation on social, economic and political integrations in Lake Zone and East Africa at large.
The giant ship that belong to the United Republic of Tanzania was transferred on February 12 this year from the slip way to the Lake Victoria water surface for final touches that include sea trial, navigation equipment putting, final painting, air conditioner locating, putting mirror and bed, among other stuffs that are expected to be finalised within a time frame of four months.
The ship is expected to bring significant boost to the Lake Zone economy connectivity, competition and interdependence as it will act as the bridge for Tanzanians among other people in East Africa to trade, explore well the new emerging market such as in agricultural crops, fisheries resource, tourism and leisure to generate income through investment.
Economic expert based at the Saint Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT), Dr Isaac Safari tells the ‘Daily News’ that it is time for citizens to think and take appropriate decisions on the best ways to use the ship economically by starting setting investments relating to agriculture, fishery and industries as well as accommodations like hotels for emerging guests.
He says the ship will come up with immense employment opportunities directly from those who will leads its daily operations such as captain, sailors, bed attendants and chief engineers saying it’s time for the country graduates to catch the opportunities.
However, Dr Safari says there are more indirect employment that will be created across all the Lake Victoria’s port where the ship will be docked urging citizens to open eyes enough to use the ship to build up their economy and the nation at large.
“Mv Mwanza will accompany the electrified Standard Gauge Railway’s (SGR) functioning as passengers and cargo who will travel from Dar er saalam going to Bukomba or Uganda will use it as the entry and exit door saving huge amount money and time which could be spent by using trucks or bus,” Dr Safari adds.
He adds “the ship will result not only to expansion of the Mwanza City but also expansion of all towns where it will serve.” Deputy Minister for Work and Transport, Mr Atupele Mwakibete, while gracing the event designed to transfer the ship from the slipway to the Lake Victoria water which was held in Mwanza South Port, said the newly built ship will operate in all Lake Victoria major ports to open more the lake regions.
Mr Mwakibete mentioned the ship operation field to includie Mwanza, Kagera, Geita, and Mara within the country while Uganda and Kenya it will be through Port Bell, Jinja Port and Kisumu Port respectively, thus increasing economic production and social welfare as it will reduce citizens’ spending on transportation while creating new market for agriculture, fishing, business, tourism among other sector.
He said the ship will be capable of carrying 400 tons of cargo and 1200 passengers acting as the catalyst for citizens including farmers, fish men and business persons to supply their goods in time to the market while increasing investment to meet the emerging market demand.
Mr Mwakibete urged the Tanzania Port Authority (TPA) to renovate all ports, including Mwanza South and North Port that will be used by the ship, so that they can meet daily basis operations requirements.
The construction of MV Mwanza Hapa Kazi Tu is being undertaken by the South Korea-based companies, namely Gas Entec in collaboration with the Kangnam Corporation at the cost of 109b/- .
According to Marine Services Company Limited’s (MSCL) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Eric Hamissi, 88 per cent of funds that is 93.8b/- has already been paid to the contractors, saying the remaining amount is also available to be paid after completion of the project Mr Hamissi noted that after the final construction that involves sea trial, wiring and painting the ship will be granted quality assurance certificate by Tanzania Shipping Agencies Corporation (TASAC) for its operations to kick off.
“The ship will serve both as the transport vehicle, business vehicle, tourism vehicle and a leisure vessel,” he added.
MV Mwanza Hapa Kazi Tu Construction Project Manager, Eng Vitus Mapunda hintes that the life span of the ship ewill be 50 years as it will operate on fresh water.
For his Part, Mwanza Region Commissioner (RC), Mr Adam Malima thanked the government for allocating funds for construction of the Mv Mwanza Hapa Kazi Tu, which will help further to integrate Mwanza regional economy to other the Lake regions and the East African countries’ economies at large.
He pledged for cooperation with all other government agencies for completion of other strategic projects such the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Lot Five from Mwanza to Isaka and Kigongo to Busisi Bridge that will supplement Mv Mwanza Hapa Kazi Tu to accelerate economic production in Mwanza , to other lake zone regions and neighbouring East African countries.
Meanwhile, Kagera RC, Mr Robert Chalamila said the new MV Mwanza Hapa Kazi Tu will mentioned sectors. He said the government has allocated over 30b/- for an expansions and renovation of Kemondo and Bukoba Port to enable the MV Mwanza operation in Kagera Region.
Equally, Geita RC, Mr Martini Shigella urged for investor to catch the investment opportunities available in Geita region, especially in the gold mining sector, saying with the Mv Mwanza ’s operations, his region can do business in East Africa, interlinking central role as it is neighbour to Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Mr Mwakibete commended MSCL for efficient supervision of the project while observing value for money and time scheduled as it has reached high per cent urging for similar efforts on undertaking the 18 per cent left for constructions.
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