Bagamoyo Port dedicated to Kikwete

THE laying of a foundation stone at Bagamoyo Port scheduled for today has been described as probably the biggest goodbye present to the country by the Fourth Phase Government.

Speaking at a briefing with the media, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Bernard Membe, after he met with officials from China Merchants Group, said that the proposed port is President Jakaya Kikwete’s largest project investment to the nation.

“The construction of the port which is expected to take between 5 and 7 years is a mega investment project which will cover about 2,400 hectares and already efforts to compensate people’s land are underway,” he said.

Mr Membe said that three years ago, China Merchants Group won the bid to construct Bagamoyo Port and they will do this job alongside companies from the governments of Oman and Tanzania.

He said that apart from the port, an industrial park will be constructed that will house various factories engaged in cement production, gas that will support the park, textiles and hide factories.

“In the talks we had with China Merchants Group, I was informed that there are plans to connect the Central Railway line and Tazara to the Bagamoyo Port and that to do so, an 80km long rail is required,” the minister noted.

Mr Membe said that once the port is complete, it is expected that economic growth will skyrocket and that because it is a natural harbour, there is every reason for it to be an international port.

The China Merchants Group Chief Executive Officer, Dr Hu Jiahua, said that they were excited to be part of the project and it was their intention of turning Bagamoyo into a dream port.

Meanwhile, Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) Manager Hebel Mhanga, said that the port is planning to start an Electronic Single Window System that will enable a person to see all port operations from the country of their origin.

Mr Mhanga said that they hope to have this system in place by next year and that this will go a long way in minimising the pinch of demurrage charges that importers have to go through.

“In our bid to increased efficiency, we want to introduce more digital services and have already got in place a billing system, e-payment and are currently finalising a contract with a company to have an Enterprise Resource Planning system, an essential tool to track business resources – cash, raw materials and production capacity,” he explained.

Speaking about the visit by officials from China Merchants Group, Mr Mhanga said that the purpose of their visit was to see the efficiency of the Dar es Salaam Port and ascertain whether there was need for the construction of another port in Bagamoyo.

He said that as he had explained to the group, Dar es Salaam Port being in the middle of the city has no more room to expand and that with an annual cargo increase of 10 per cent, it is thus justifiable to construct another port.

OP Daily News