2006-10-26 09:13:04
By Judica Tarimo and Gadiosa Lamtey
Talks between government and strategic investors on the formal handing over of the Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC) are scheduled to re-start immediately, Infrastructure Development Minister, Andrew Chenge has confirmed.
We dont want these talks to go on, and on?our railway facility is under pathetic condition. We are losing a lot of money, said Chenge.
TRC was to be handed over to the strategic investors, M/S Rites Consortium of India last month following talks that commenced in August this year.
We want to enter into a contract that would benefit our people and the country, Chenge said in an exclusive telephone interview yesterday.
The government, through the Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSRC), concessioned Rites Consortium to operate TRC on a lease-contract of 25 years.
However, the negotiations have not so far been fruitful despite the governments initial assurance that the agreement on the handing over of the facility would have been signed last month.
The governments struggle to strike a win-win position, the minister said, was the reason behind the delay in the schedule on the signing of the contract and the eventual handing over.
However, fresh talks with the investors from India, the minister said, would start after Eid El-Fitr celebrations but declined to specify when the facility would be handed over to the investors.
We need investors to come in as soon as possible to repair the lines and the facility as a whole, to ease transportation of cargo to other countries, observed the minister.
Chenge said the government is optimistic that, once in the hands of investors, transportation of cargo to Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and others, could generate a lot of money for the country.
He insisted that it is the pursuit of favourable terms that compelled the government to extend the signing of the agreement to officially hand over TRC to the investors last month.
Even though, it is not clear if the agreement would be able to finalise the talks with the investors in the forthcoming talks.
I cannot confirm this but we want this deal to be finalised as soon as possible, he said.
According to TRC Public Relations Manager, Shukuru Sudi, the public utility firm was losing millions of shillings in telephone wire vandalism and sabotage.
She said that between January and December last year, some 357 kilomentres of wire worth 71,191,000/- was stolen.
During the same period, a total of 421 telephone poles with a street value of 31,996, 000/- got lost.
TRC has 91 locomotive engines. However, owing to lack of spare parts, accidents, and other factors, the company is left with 53 operational locomotive engines.
We had 95 passengers wagons, but financial crisis had failed TRC to purchase spare parts to repair the equipment. This has forced us to abandon about 41 problematic wagons, said Sudi.
