Why TARURA received meagre funding
DODOMA: THE government has clarified the reasons behind its insufficient funding of the Tanzania Rural and Urban Roads Agency (TARURA) in the first half of the current financial year.
Minister for Finance Dr Mwigulu Nchemba addressed the issue in the House yesterday, following the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Local Government Affairs’ tabling of its 2024 report, which raised serious concerns over the agency’s poor funding in the first six months since the National Assembly passed the 2024/2025 government budget in June 2024.
According to the committee, the House allocated a total of 886.30bn/- to TARURA for the current financial year.
By December 2024, the government was expected to release 443bn/- to the agency, representing half of the total allocation.
“Our expectation was that by December 2024, TARURA should have received 443.15bn/-. However, only 92.49bn/-, or 20 per cent of the targeted amount, had been disbursed between July and December 2024.
The committee is deeply concerned by this trend,” said Committee Chairperson Justin Nyamoga, when presenting the report.
In his clarification, Dr Nchemba reaffirmed the government’s commitment to ensuring the successful implementation of all development programmes.
He explained that the insufficient funding for TARURA was partly due to last year’s looming power shortage, which could have led to power rationing.
This situation forced the government to make a difficult decision to allocate substantial financial resources toward completing the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project (JNHPP).
“As the power shortage threatened, we faced two choices: Purchase emergency power generators or complete the JNHPP. We ultimately decided to prioritise the JNHPP, directing a significant portion of financial resources to the project,” Dr Nchemba said.
Following this decision, the government began allocating 400bn/- per month to the power project until its completion.
“Today, JNHPP is complete and we are enjoying surplus power generation in the country,” he added.
Dr Nchemba also noted another factor affecting the funding allocation: the government’s decision to finalise the construction of the Dar es Salaam – Dodoma section of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project to enable its operations.
He assured MPs that Tanzania now leads in the implementation of development projects in Eastern and Southern Africa, crediting President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s bold, exemplary and transformative leadership.
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Minister of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government) Mr Mohamed Mchengerwa reiterated the government’s commitment to completing all projects.
He assured MPs that his ministry would begin implementing several projects in all constituencies next month, with the Finance Ministry having already committed a total of 247bn/- for his docket.
During the deliberations, legislators warned that failure to disburse funds to TARURA would exacerbate the state of rural transport infrastructure, including roads and bridges, which has already deteriorated due to the damage caused by last year’s El Niño rains.
They noted that in some areas, roads are impassable, severely affecting the lives of rural populations who are unable to access markets, hospitals and other essential services.
TARURA is responsible for maintaining the rural road network, which stretches over 144,429.77 kilometres.
