THE Minister for Works, Transport and Communications Isack Kamwelwe has already formed an inquiry team to probe 12 engineers of the Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS), who recently suspended following a delayed maintenance of the Kiegeya Bridge along the Morogoro- Dodoma highway.
President John Magufuli directed the minister recently to form a probe team to investigate why the restoration of the bridge, which was washed away by floods in March 2, this year, had been delayed.
Dr Magufuli issued the directive early last week when he toured the site whose construction was not near completion after almost two weeks since the bridge succumbed to floods.
He suspended the engineers pending the probe, whilst issuing strong warning to the minister and TANROADS boss, Eng Patrick Mfugale.
Flagging off vehicles after the completion of the construction of the Kiegeya bridge bypass, Eng Kamwelwe said the committee has been given seven days to accomplish their investigation.
He said, they will investigate if there was any economic loss that the country incurred due to the communication breakdown, since the bridge connects the commercial and port city of Dar es Salaam and Central and Lake Zone regions as well as neighbouring countries such as Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“We have implemented the directives of Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa and those issued by President Magufuli, first of all, the 12 engineers have already been suspended and replaced, again the team has been formed to probe into the matter.
The construction of the Kiegeya bridge bypass has also been completed within seven days to allow vehicles to pass all the time.
Drivers of cargo trucks from Dar es Salaam to neighbouring countries and vice versa shouldn’t be worried again,” stated Eng Kamwelwe.
Apart from replacing the 12 engineers, they have also appointed the new Tanroads Regional Manager for Morogoro, who has been transferred from Kilimanjaro.
Engineer Ntije Nkilante is the new Tanroads manager for Morogoro region, while his replacement is a female engineer Motta Kyando who was the head of planning at Tanroads in Iringa region.
For his part, the Permanent Secretary Elius Mwakalinga said the probe team has involved experts from different professions such engineers, economists and other experts from the Works ministry.
“Others are from Contractors Registration Board (CRB), Engineers Registration Board (ERB) and Architects and Quantity Surveyors Registration Board (AQRB),” noted Mr Mwakalinga.
The committee will be stationed at Kiegeya bridge and it will be using the Morogoro Works Training College as its temporary offices, he revealed.
For his part, the Morogoro Tanroads regional manager Engineer Nkolante thanked the ministry and the entire management for trusting him, saying he is aware of the infrastructural challenges in the region.
He promised to team up with other staff in his office to address the challenges. “We are all trained to deal with these issues,” he stated.
