Construction of Kigamboni Bridge set for next year

PLANS to construct a multi billion worth of a 0.5 kilometer bridge across the Magogoni creek in Dar es Salaam which was signed four years ago between the government and National Social Security Fund (NSSF), is yet to start as the government is currently finalizing some technical procedures. In view of this fact, residents of Kigamboni suburb off the city of Dar es Salaam who had been anxiously waiting for the execution of the project, will have to draw a patience for a while despite of the promise by the government that it would construct a bridge linking them with the city center as the preparations on the construction are still under discussions.
The long-awaited and much-talked about the proposed bridge has stalled in the wake of transport crisis currently facing residents in the areas as NSSF the financier was waiting for the modalities about the project to be finalized by the government, an official from NSSF said last week in Dar es Salaam. NSSF’s Director of Planning investment and projects Mr. Yacoub .M. Kidula told in an exclusive interview that the project planned to be implemented under Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements is still in the planning stage. However, he added that once the process is concluded, his organization would organize to get a strategic partner to execute the job, and already the firm has received over thirty applicants who would be scrutinized afterwards to get one fit for the job.
”The Fund was in the process of getting a strategic investor to partner with it in executing the project”, he said echoing a pledge made several times in recent years. However, he refuted the allegations published in one of the daily newspapers in the country that NSSF has pulled out of this project. He said, the project is still at its infancy stage of preparations that is too early to talk about, he cautioned that, it’s the government who have to speak on its behalf at this time for it’s their property. He stressed a point that NSSF are coordinators. When contacted for further clarification, an unanonymous government official from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development said, “the government has already commissioned experts to conduct feasibility study on the project, after which the contractor would be appointed to start construction works probably by May next year. He said the process is cumbersome and needs more time to accomplish that task which together with other things requires care and techniques which has to be applied from the engineering point of view. The bridge, to be built across the Kurasini creek, will link metropolitan Dar es Salaam to the Kigamboni suburb, whose residents have endured serious transport problems for decades since independence.
Most currently the transport in between depend on the off and on services of two dilapidated pontoons - MV Alina and MV Kigamboni in order to cross the creek. Smaller vessels usually chip in when the pontoons are grounded, with safety far from guaranteed. A cross section of Dar es Salaam businessmen trading at Magogoni fish market had something to say about the project when contacted for comments, with most of them putting on criticism saying that the government was to blame for shelving the project for years, calling for a time-frame to guide the implementation. Some of them recalled the signing event as meaningless when NSSF signed an agreement with the Ministry of Works in Dar es Salaam since 2004 to undertake a feasibility study for the construction of the bridge. The ceremony was also attended by the then Minister for Works, Hon. John Pombe Magufuli.
According to the agreement signed by the NSSF Managing Director, Dr. Ramadhan Dau, and the Permanent Secretary of the then Ministry of Works, Engineer John Kijazi, NSSF would have six months to complete the study and forward their recommendations to the government prior to the start of the work. But to the great dismay, speaking in a pensive mood most residents of Kigamboni suburb and its environs are astonished by the way the government is handling the issue which it seems to have repudiated it. Rashidi Ntomoko, a famous businessman in the city who resides at Mji Mwema within Kigamboni suburb said “Kigamboni is the only place with good open space for business”. He is appealing to the government to hurry up with the project so as to get an easy movements with the business activities in the area. Apart from business activities, he added that investing on the bridge was also aimed at improving environment for settlement in the area. Way back in mid 1970s, the government conducted a feasibility study and detailed engineering design for the bridge in 1977 under the financial support of the African Development Bank. The construction cost was estimated at 28.6m US dollars at that time and the bridge was to be 560m long with 14 span of 40m each. The bridge would have 14.5 wide deck and two-lane carriageway of 3.75m. According to a recent parliamentary debate sessions, the government said that it had already paid a total of 2.5bn/- in compensation to people who will have to give way to the construction of the Kigamboni Bridge in Dar es Salaam.