Africa-Press – Tanzania. PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan’s directive to transport cashew nuts via Mtwara Port is swiftly being implemented by the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) in collaboration with Mtwara Regional leaders.
The TPA’s top management and Mtwara Regional Commissioner paid a visit at the port to ensure everything is in line for the cashew nut shipment process to take off.
TPA Director General Eric Hamissi and the investment committee with the Board of Directors of TPA arrived in Mtwara a week ago, to see the progress of investment done in the port, which has been undergoing a huge facelift to meet international standards.
And, on Thursday, Mtwara Regional Commissioner Brigadier General Marco Gaguti and Mtwara District Commissioner Dunstan Kyobya joined them to inspect the rehabilitation of the port that had cost 1.5bn/-.
They, then, held a joint press briefing; giving the assurance that everything was in place for the port to handle the cashews consignment for shipment.
The president’s directive was issued last Saturday by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa on her behalf, during a cashew nuts stakeholders’ meeting held in Lindi Region.
The Head of State specifically mentioned the cashew nuts producing regions of Ruvuma, Mtwara and Lindi, directing them to ship cashew nuts through the major southern port.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday here, Mr Hamissi said that TPA is well prepared to ensure the cashews produced this year are transported through the Mtwara Port as directed by the Head of State.
“The president’s order, as the prime minister stated, is that all the cashew nuts to be produced this year should be shipped via Mtwara Port and that is what we have planned…the cashew nuts will be transported via the port,” he insisted.
Transportation of the cashew nut via Mtwara Port is set to take off in September, this year. He said the investment at the port has been fully completed and equipped with shipping equipment for handling the cargo at the port.
He said the investment which includes construction of a 300-metre long and 13.5m depth new berth at the port has increased cargo handling capacity from 400,000 tonnes per annum to 1000,000 tonnes annually.
The TPA boss said the authority is also reviewing the tariffs and levies charged at Mtwara Port to reduce the shipping charges aimed at attracting customers to use the port.
“President Samia also ordered for the review of the tariffs and levies. We are working on it, to see how we can reduce them to attract customers,” he said, noting the aim is to ensure the port handles daily commodities including Dangote Cement and coal among other goods.
He revealed that the TPA met with the management of the cement factory and discussed barriers and other issues that had blocked the largest cement factory in the country from using Mtwara Port to transport their products.
The installation capacity of the factory stands at three million tonnes a year.
“We discussed with Dangote’s management and formed a special committee between Dangote and TPA to point out the barriers and get rid of them to let their cement be transported via Mtwara Port,” he said.
TPA is also holding discussions with other major coal exporters in the country to identify barriers and other challenges hindering them from using the Mtwara Port.
The TPA boss, however, insisted that Mtwara Port will not impose the same charges as Dar es Salaam Port at the moment.
“We are planning to reduce shipping charges as a promotion to market our welldeveloped Mtwara Port to attract more and more people to use the port in exporting and importing goods,” he said.
Mtwara port is currently handling petroleum products destined for the Southern Zone.
Mtwara Regional Commissioner Brig Gen Marco Gaguti commended TPA for taking actions to implement the President’s directives, committing Mtwara’s cooperation to TPA to ensure the plan to transport cashew nuts via Mtwara is achieved.
He said some 170,000 tonnes are expected to be produced in the 2021/22 harvest season in the region. He said the region is well set to ensure the cashew nuts to be harvested are transported via Mtwara Port as per the president’s order.
The RC called cashew farmers to ensure best farming practices to improve cashew nut production and achieve the set target of harvesting 170,000 tonnes of the produce.
He also urged ‘Wananchi’ in Mtwara to grab business opportunities set to be produced at the port as productive operations of the ports take off.
