TARURA sinks 302.9bn/- on major road projects in Dodoma

DODOMA: TANZANIA Rural Roads Agency (TARURA) has completed construction of a major road infrastructure project in Dodoma worth 262.46bn/- in the past four years, the agency’s Chief Executive Officer, Engineer Victor Seff, has revealed.

He said projects worth 40.49bn/- are in various stages of implementation, and when all projects are completed, they will be worth 302.95bn/-.

Engineer Seff said that these achievements are due to the budget increase made by the government, where initially they were receiving a budget of 275bn/- per year, but later the budget increased from 275bn/- per year to 1.1tri/-, equivalent to an increase of 230 percent.

“Some of the completed projects are the construction of 58.5 Kilometer asphalt roads in the Government City of Mtumba-Dodoma, the 140-meter Berega bridge in Kilosa-Morogoro district, the 75-meter Mbwemkuru bridge in Ruangwa-Lindi district, the 12.5-kilometer Visiga-Zegereni asphalt road in Kibaha-Pwani district and the 5.1-kilometer asphalt road in the Dodoma industrial area”, he said.

He explained that it is overseeing the Dar es Salaam City Development Project (DMDP 2) worth 1,136.172 billion shillings, the Msimbazi River Basin Development Project (MBD) worth 608.4bn/-, and the 45 cities Improvement Project (TACTIC) worth 959.4bn/-.

Other projects are the improvement of rural roads and socio-economic opportunities in areas with agricultural opportunities (RISE) worth 811.65bn/- and the Construction of roads in areas of coffee, tea, fruits, and vegetables (Agri-connect) worth 138.528bn/-.

“These projects, when completed, will cost approximately 3.68tri/- and so far the overall implementation has reached 40 percent and all projects are expected to be completed by April 2030. When these projects are completed, a total of 1,242.52 kilometers of asphalt roads, 151 kilometers of canals, 56 markets, and 39 bus stands will have been built,” he added.

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Engineer Seff said the Agency has implemented District road construction and maintenance projects based on policies of participation, inclusion and economic empowerment of the community, where 99.2 percent of tenders for the construction and maintenance of rural and urban roads have been awarded to local contractors every year, while 30 percent of the Road Fund budget is used to award tenders to special groups every year.

“A total of 344 community groups have participated in road maintenance work and as of July 2025, 173,760 jobs were provided to citizens in road construction projects,” he said.

He also added that the Agency, in collaboration with the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), has conducted an assessment of the results of the improvement of rural roads and their accessibility to citizens in 2025.

“The assessment has shown that the travel time to social and economic services such as markets and hospitals has decreased by 17.5 minutes, and the cost of transportation has decreased by 75.3 percent.

“The level of accessibility to transportation has reached 86 percent compared to 20 percent for roads that have not been improved, and if roads are improved to the level of asphalt or gravel, the level of transportation increases by approximately 66 percent, and crop losses have decreased by 72.5 percent due to the improvement of rural roads.”

He continued to explain that the level of accessibility to the rural road network that is passable throughout the year has increased from 24.6 percent in 2016 to 61.0 percent in 2025. This shows that a large portion of the rural population has access to transport and transportation services, which is important for poverty reduction, access to services, and economic growth.