Africa-Press – Tanzania. ENERGY Minister, Dr Medard Kalemani has ordered demotion of thirteen Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO) district managers and ten surveyors for delaying to supply electricity to consumers.
The minister also dissolved the national power utility’s Tender Board and ordered for investigation over a number of irregularities.
Some of the districts whose managers face the penalty are Gongolamboto, Mbagala, Bunda, Nyamagana, Kigamboni, Mkuranga and Nyakato.
The surveyors are from Kasulu, Mbozi, Arusha, Tabata, Kisarawe, Mkuranga, Rorya, Tarime and Bunda districts. He directed the Tanesco management to make immediate replacement of the demoted officials for smooth operations and increased revenue collections.
“The objective is to ensure the company operates professionally and effectively and this demands for increased productivity and accountability,” said Dr Kalemani. Dr Kalemani warned against unnecessary power interruptions, claiming that some managers are doing it purposely as they delay economic activities.
Minister Kalemani was speaking to Tanesco management, zonal, regional and district managers here yesterday, saying despite few shortcomings; most managers have been doing a good job.
The Tanesco Tender Board has been dissolved due to bureaucracy, thus delaying most of the procurement procedures, which in the end cause hiccups in delivery of the equipment for power supply and connectivity, said the minister.
Dr Kalemani said picking bidders is one of the avenues that leave a lot of questions, saying the move to dismantle the tender board is aimed at increasing performance and productivity, so that the government’s intention to ensure the public is connected and electrification goals is attained as planned.
Dr Kalemani said power connection applications for consumers submitted between March and April should be complete by the end of June, this year.
Minister Kalemani, however, commended Tanesco for collection of outstanding debts, which has seen the dues drop from 278bn/- to 126bn/- of which public entities share remains only 48bn/-.
He said the remaining amount should be collected immediately. He advised the management that the collected debts should be left in the respective areas for improvement of infrastructure development and purchase of equipment to extend the scope of customers’ services.
The minister said with the increasing number of customers, it is an ideal avenue for increased revenue generation for the national power utility company.
The minister commended Tanesco for increased revenue collection from 9.1bn/- a week three years back to 46bn/- weekly at present
