‘Ports not for sale’

THE GOVERNMENT has said, the agreement between Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and Dubai’s DP World Company regarding development of ports in the country has no intention of selling the facilities, but improving efficiency and increasing revenue collection from them.

It emphasised that, the partnership aims at benefiting all Tanzanians contrary to rumours that have been circulating in some of social media.

Government Chief Spokesperson Gerson Msigwa made the statement on Friday, noting that currently the government has only signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the ports’ development with the government of UAE.

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The assigned MoU was the result of President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s meeting with the government of UAE, where they agreed to form partnership in developing and investing further in the ports.

“The agreement was taken to the Parliament that is now in the process of receiving opinions form stakeholders and members of the public,” he pointed out.

“The port has not been sold, but the government has just signed a contract for investing and developing the facility for 12 months, thereafter, the contract for implementation will come up,” he said, adding: “The new contract will determine the time frame for the execution.”

Meanwhile, a statement issued by Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) on Tuesday indicated that the efforts made by the sixth phase government to attract new investments in the country’s ports aims at addressing long term challenges like delays of loading and offloading vessels, cargo and inefficiency among others.

Hence, TPA vehemently refuted false news in the social media that the government plans to grant the DP World, the contract to run the operations of Dar es Salaam Port for 100 years.

TPA said that the misleading statements in the social media were issued by unethical people to hinder the government’s plans to enhance efficiency of the port sector for the national interests.

“The cooperation between the two governments aims at enhancing efficiency of the ports’ services, create more jobs, open new economic opportunities through investments in some areas of the Dar port, Special Economic and Industrial Zones by building industries as well as investing in the whole transport value chain from Tanzania ports to the neighbouring countries,” the statement said.

It is expected that the investors will improve ease of doing business by using modern technology to shape the visibility, transparency, and speed up transit of cargo across Tanzania ports, Inland Container Depots and borders.

The involvement of the private sector brings the prospects for improved connectivity and the potential for expansion and modernisation of facilities at the port.

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