Rail transport is steadily making inroads into the haulage market after upgrading of railway infrastructure and propping up of state-owned railway company.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication, Dr Leonard Chamuhiro said that rail freight was now making inroads into haulage market as traders were enjoying economic benefits and efficiency of rail transport.
"We see efforts to remove road cargo volume from the road to railway are progressing well as traders are now coming back to railway transport," he said during a live telecast by Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) on Saturday.
Dr Chamuhiro said efforts to upgrade the railway infrastructure and restructure the Tanzania Railway Limited (TRL) so as be able to run on its own feet were beginning to pay off as railway transport of containers was picking up. He said traders were capitalising on the economic benefits and efficiency of railway transportation for cargo as it has lower average cost for businesses which leads to substantial reduction in transport cost which will eventually be translated into lower prices for goods and services.
These efforts have helped to reduce transport cost as railway transportation was cheaper compared with road transport," he said adding it is estimated that one train would remove 80 trucks on the road. He said the government had put up strategy to turn around the TRL into a commercially successful modern railway company that can meet the challenges of serving the increasing needs of the rapid growing domestic economy and that of neigbouring landlocked countries. "Our strategy was to support TRL so that it can run on its own.
The board of directors and top management have been changed. We put in young men and women who are eager to work hard and we have started to see the results," he said. "Our eyes are there. It is a joint strategy by the ministry, the board of director and the management to make sure the company did not go back to the difficult days," he said.
He said apart from upgrading of railway network, the government had bought new locomotives and wagons for the company and was supporting to conduct major engines overhaul to a number of old locomotives. He said it was the intention of the government to reduce cargo volumes on the roads so as to preserve them.
Tanzania is planning to construct a standard gauge railway to link the Dar es Salaam port with Burundi, Rwanda and Eastern part of DR Congo.
It has so far secured a 7.6 billion US dollars loan from China's Export-Import Bank (Exim) for the project which is expected to begin in this financial year. The government also plans construction of two additional lines to connect Dar es Salaam to the coal, iron ore and soda ash mining areas in the south and northern parts of the country.
Daily News
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