THE Government through the Ministry of Infrastructure is underway to propose a bill which will work as a guideline policy for rescue operational activities for marine accidents. The bill will ensure together with other things marine accidents are attended promptly. The Guardian has been informed. The Minister for Infrastructure Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe said in an exclusive interview recently in Dar es Salaam that, the bill to be tabled at the parliamentary sessions scheduled in February next year, will enable marine transport stakeholders to know the importance of the rescue operations and what actions should they take whenever such accidents occurs. Dr. Mwakyembe who is a professional lawyer has come up with the idea after having realized there are existing discrepancies of the general understanding of the importance of marine rescue operations among stakeholders whenever accidents occurs in the country. He is a brain behind the move over the matter after having studied what had transpired in the recent two worst marine disasters along the Indian Ocean of MV Spice Islander which occurred in September 2011 and MV Skagit which occurred three weeks ago respectively. Following the two recent marine disasters, Dr. Mwakyembe has discovered that, little knowledge is being applied of the general idea of rescue operations due to lack of proper understanding on the whole issue. This is coupled by lack of modern rescue operational facilities that Tanzania is still faced with as a great challenge. However he noted that his office is currently working with a team of local experts on important elements from both inland and marine transport sector in the country to ensure that, a comprehensive policy on rescue operations is drafted and a law is passed to make if more effective. “I want to ward off all these obstacles which exist in transport sector because of the improper guidelines, if there could be proper policies to be followed, many people would have been rescued on time from the scenes of accidents” he said. In another development, Dr. Mwakyembe has pledged to revive the operations of the ailing national air transport sector in the country which for years has been staggering for lack of effective control.
The Minister for Transport, Dr. Harison Mwakyembe
He has however called on Tanzanians to give him three months maximum to ensure that he puts into an effective control line the Air Tanzania Company Ltd (ATCL) which he said has not been performing as required due to improper managerial skills. He said in an interview with this paper when met during the inauguration ceremony of the official opening of the hangar house, an aircraft engineering workshop for Precision Air which took place last week at Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in Dar es Salaam. ATCL is a sole national airline which has been in operation for about 35 years now since its establishment and has been dependent to a large extent in recent years by many Tanzanians as sole means of air transportation in the country. “I have seen the need to work tirelessly to make sure that, ATCL comes back into normal operations as people would not be happy to see it collapsing for no any cause”, he said adding that, he is closely working on the matter and asked people to draw their patience to let him accomplish his task within three months’ time. However, he noted that, the state of air transport in the country needs to be revamped so that the industry should fair in competition with other international airlines operating in the country with a view to promote air transport and the national economy in the country. Detailing on dubious contractual agreements which have been signed and thus hampering the entire operations, he noted that, currently his office is scrutinizing and reviewing them to see if they have any irregularities and if seen would immediately be flushed out. He noted that, the existing dubious contracts is a cause of bad work performance, and in view of this, he has vowed to ensure that his ministry does not engage in any further contractual agreement that is likely to endanger the entire operation.
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