Legislators hail government's efforts to strengthen ports activities

LEGISLATORS have pressurized the government to continue its commitments in order to reform the activities at the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) which they said is the main source of revenue collection serving five landlocked countries. Contributing to the budget estimates for the 2013/14 financial year yesterday in Parliament, various legislators have hailed efforts currently being undertaken by the ministry to reform the port and advised the government to be serious bearing the fact that the port is the pillar of the economy of the country which facilitates transportation of goods.  Kombo Khamis Kombo (CUF) said that, the expansion of the port can increase the government’s revenue, however, he said that the problem of corruption among workers of the port shows a negative attitude and bad image to the institution. He has however asked Minister for Transport Dr. Harison Mwakyembe whose efforts have shown a tremendous development within a short time to strengthen his strategies to ward off the impeding phenomenon. Following the recent action by the Ministry against untrustworthy workers who were sacked from the port, the CUF legislator also wanted to know if some of the workers who were terminated by the minister were taken to court or if were investigated by the PCCB institution. Another legislator Susan Lyimo (Chadema-special seat) said that countries like China and Singapore succeeded to increase their economy to a higher level by largely depending on their ports available in their countries. However, she said that, it was surprising to note that, the Dar es Salaam port does not have enough spaces for storage facilities at the dock an aspect which cause overloaded of containers and other goods. In view of this, she has therefore advised the government to work on the issue in order to perform better. She has objected the government’s decision to embark on its decision to build a new port at Bagamoyo saying that this is a loss of money, and instead has therefore advised the government to use the available money to expand the existing ports of Mtwara, Tanga and Dar es Salaam which needs refurbishments that would maker them increase their capacity.