History as govt inks 7 pacts for 3.8tri/- road projects

THE government through the Tanzania Roads Agency (TANROADS) has signed seven different contracts for construction of 2,035 kilometres roads valued at 3.8tri/-, which upon completion, will catalyse the country’s economy.

The roads will be constructed through Engineering, Procurement, Construction Plus Financing (EPC+F), according to the Minister for Works and Transport, Professor Makame Mbarawa.

Speaking at the signing event which was attended by various officials, Prof Mbarawa said that during the 2022-2023 Financial Year, the government initiated procurement procedures to have contractors who will construct seven different roads at tarmac level through EPC + F, insisting that the 2,035 kilometres roads will open the country economically.

According to him, the roads which will be constructed include: Kidatu – Ifakara – Lupiro – Malinyi – Kilosa Kwa Mpepo – Londo – Lumecha/Songea (435.8km); Arusha – Kibaya – Kongwa (453.42km); Handeni – Kiberashi – Kijungu – Kibaya – Njoro – Olboroti – Mrijo Chini – Dalai – Bicha – Chambolo – Chemba – Kwa Mtoro – Singida ( 384.33km).

Others are Igawa – Songwe – Tunduma (four-lane) (237.9km); Masasi – Nachingwea – Liwale (175km); Karatu – Mbulu – Haydom – Sibiti River – Lalago – Maswa (339km) and Mafinga – Mtwango – Mgololo (81km).

“This is the first time in our country’s history to have major road infrastructure projects covering a total of 2,035 kilometres, which will be implemented concurrently in different parts of the country. The seven contracts signed today are valued at 3.775tril/- and we expect all the projects to be completed within a period of five years,” said the minister.

Prof Mbarawa further added that the major aim of constructing these roads was to improve the roads network in the country as well as increasing efficiency in the works and transport sectors so as to catalyse production activities in the areas where the roads will be constructed.

He also said that the government wanted to see economies of Tanzanians where roads shall pass through are going up tremendously.

The minister said that the envisaged roads would equally attract neighbouring countries Zambia, Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zimbabwe, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Southern Sudan to use the Tanzanian ports thus hiking revenues collected from ports.

Speaking at the occasion, TANROADS Chief Executive, Engineer Mohamed Besta, said that the procurement process to have the selected contractors was done through an open competitive tendering and that the process kicked off on June 27, 2022.

According to him, there were about 129 bidders who expressed interests in the projects and that finally after a thorough rigorous process to have those who met requisite criteria, only four companies were selected, and, it is those companies which signed the seven contracts yesterday.

They are China Civil Engineering Construction (CCECC) which is in a joint venture with China Railway 19^th Bureau Group Corporation Ltd (CR19), Sinohydro Corporation Ltd, China Overseas Engineering Group Co, Ltd (COVEC), China Railway No. 4 Engineering Group Co. Ltd (CREC4) and China Railway 15th Bureau Group (CR15G).

In the signed contracts, the TANROADS Chief Executive noted that contractors will be required to do design as well as construction of roads as per the requirements listed in the contracts and that all risks concerning design of the projects would be under the contractor.