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MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF
TANZANIA DURING
4TH EAST AND CENTRAL AFRICA ROADS AND RAIL
INFRASTRUCTURE SUMMIT 20-21 AUGUST, 2013
HELD AT SERENA HOTEL – DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA
Chairman of the Summit,
Distinguished Delegates from various countries in East and Central
Africa
Representatives of Ministries in the East African Community Partner
States
Bank Representatives
Countries' Development Partners
Representatives of Various Institutions in the Transport Sector
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
On behalf of the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania and indeed on my
own behalf, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to Magenta Global
Company in collaboration with other institutions for organizing this profound 4th
East and Central Africa Roads and Rail Infrastructure Summit. I am grateful for the
invitation extended to me to present a Keynote address and preside over the official
opening of this very important summit.
The Government of Tanzania, and in particular the Ministry of Transport, feels
greatly honoured to host this summit and thus reminding us of the importance
bestowed on us fostering the demands of the region’s immediate and future growth. I
have been informed that this meeting is being held in Tanzania continuous for the
third time. Hosting this event is a great honor to the country and, at the same time,
provides an opportunity for establishing strong linkages in order to improve the
connectivity of the landlocked countries to the World and African economies; and for
those from outside, to experience renowned Tanzanian hospitality and beauty. I
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understand that you have already been welcomed at least at individual level, but let
me take this opportunity to welcome you all to Tanzania and to Dar es Salaam in
particular. I hope you will have a pleasant and enjoyable stay. Please feel at home
and I encourage you after the meeting to visit parts of the country and experience
what Tanzania has to offer in terms of tourist attractions.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my hope that this summit will provide a forum through which professionals in
the transport sector of East and Central Africa as well as representatives of the
private sector will discuss various issues relating to the industry, share their
experiences, their thoughts and ideas about rail and road transport services and
come up with innovative ideas and action plans that will guarantee this region a
transport system fit for the 21st century.
The agenda of this meeting is in agreement with the Government's long settled view
that good railway and road transport links have a clear and very distinctive role to
play in economic development of any country. You will equally agree with me that
effective and efficient transport system is a pre-requisite for viable economic
development of any country as it impacts on the level of competitiveness in the
globalized economic endeavors. In the growth of Tanzania’s economy, the transport
sector plays a crucial role. It is a lifeline to other sectors of the economy such as
agriculture, mining, manufacturing, tourism to name but a few. The sector also
facilitates domestic and international trade, contributes to national and regional
integration, and provides accessibility to jobs, health, education and other essential
facilities.
In Tanzania the transport sector has continued to grow and its performance has
improved due to both government efforts and private sector investment in road
transport services, expansion of telecommunications services, modernization of port
infrastructure and services, and improvement in marine, railway and air transport
services. Tanzania with its favourable geographical position serves as transit route
for imports and exports of her neighbours: Malawi, Zambia, DR Congo, Burundi,
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Rwanda, Uganda and Southern Sudan using the port of Dar es Salaam. Currently, the
transport system consists of roads, railways, air, water and pipeline modes.
Ladies and Gentlemen
As we meet here today, I would also like to admit that the capacity of our existing
railway networks is impaired by a number of factors. The biggest drawback is that it
is old and in many parts weak, hence unable to allow fast movement of trains and
high permissible axle loads limits. In fact the rails in some of the links are still of
light weight - meter gauge of the past and cannot handle the axle loads of today’s
freight wagons and locomotives. As a result, most of the branch lines have been
abandoned for lack of competitiveness with the more robust road transport. Lack of
timely, requisite investments in railway infrastructure and rolling stock has been
responsible for the current state of affairs. It is against this background that I am
pleased to be associated with this important Summit that will discuss the short and
long term investment plans, challenges and innovations in railway, roads and ports
infrastructures.
Despite many years of railway decline, the subsector still has potential role to play in
unlocking the enormous economic potential of both Tanzania and the region by
providing reliable, cost effective long distance freight transportation. This explains
why the Country Tanzania has over the past few years given special attention to the
development of the Central Corridor transport infrastructure and services. The
Government’s “BIG RESULT NOW” initiative has set a number of targets to be
achieved by 2015. For example, we want to bring down transit time along the central
corridor between Dar es Salaam and border stations (Rusumo, Kabanga and
Mutukula) from the current 4 or 5 days to 2 and a half days; similarly dwell time
target is 5 days against the current 14 days for transit traffic. To underpin, the
Governments’ seriousness in improving the transport sector, it has already
committed and paid for the purchase of a good number of locomotives, wagons and
other equipment for use on the Tanzania Railways Limited (TRL) network. Similarly
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we have more budget allocation set aside in this year’s budget, for the rehabilitation
of railway infrastructure, intermodal facilities and road infrastructure along the
Central Corridor.
Other initiatives which are on-going in the region include the tripartite agreement
entered into by Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania on the joint development of the Dar
es Salaam – Isaka – Kigali / Keza – Gitega – Musongati railway line about 1,660 kms
and the agreement between the Government of Uganda and Tanzania on the
development of Tanga – Arusha – Musoma – Kampala railway and ports project.
At this juncture, I would like to express my appreciation to the African Development
Bank for providing a joint grant and loan to Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania
equivalent to US$ 8.5 million for the detailed studies of the Dar es Salaam – Isaka –
Kigali/Keza – Gitega - Musongati railway line. I have no doubt that this kind of
initiative will yield a workable solution for the development of the East African
Railways in the short, medium and long terms.
I therefore call for candid, robust and productive discussion in the 2 days you will be
here. The most important outcome of this year’s summit should be a plan of action
that addresses the aspirations of the region while acknowledging the challenges
posed in implementing the same.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
At East Africa Railway Master Plan Conference held in February, 2009 at Mlimani
City, Dar es Salaam the Partners States presented their vision of the contribution of
the rail sector to their countries’ economic growth and approaches to revitalizing the
railway as an engine for economic growth. This summit should therefore focus on
how to strategize the Partner States vision to revitalize our railway systems. It is high
time that our Governments harnessed and exploited the huge private sector potential
in railway investments. I am aware that the capital requirements for the
revitalization and modernization of the East Africa railways are enormous. While
this kind of financial quantum may not be easily raised from the public sector, it has
been shown that East Africans and the private sector generally are ready to
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participate in well structured infrastructure development bonds that in some
countries have been oversubscribed.
The second issue is the utilization of appropriate technology given that railways
technology in the region has not changed even after a century of operations. This
technical obsolete has now led to the near collapse of the railways systems rendering
them as I said earlier, uncompetitive in relation particularly to the road transport.
For example, to rehabilitate a locomotive will take a minimum of eight months
because of acquiring spare parts which are not immediately available in the market.
Another area that should be looked into is the question of railways connectivity in the
region. As the region is moving towards a single market it is important that physical
connectivity through efficient transport networks pre-date these integration
initiatives. Time is, therefore, not on our side and we need to keep up with the pace.
We should link and connect our railways and create efficiencies through equipment
sharing, pooling of resources, and joint market exploitation. We should even think of
the wider connectivity to the tripartite region of COMESA, EAC and SADC. Critical
missing links connecting Tanzania with the neighbouring railways should be fast
tracked to enable the region operate through efficient and friendly railways systems.
This, in my view will open up huge potential for development, not only for the EAC
region, but also for the wider Great Lakes region for long –distance freight and bulk
transport, and for urban transport in major cities and for medium-distance intercity
passenger transport.
Chairman of the Summit
Before I conclude, I would like to take this opportunity to urge the private sector to
support our initiatives in transportation. The private sector can own rolling stock
and can be involved in various projects of expanding railway network through
different schemes including Build Operate and Transfer (BOT), Build Own Operate
Transfer (BOOT) just to mention a few. I would like to assure you that the creation
of a reliable, competitive and efficient and customer-focused transport sector,
managed by both public and private sector is a vision that Government has to share.
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is not my intention to take much of your time with a long speech as my task
was to officiate the opening of this summit 2013. In that case, may I now take
this opportunity to declare that the 4th East and Central Africa Rail and Road
infrastructure summit 2013 is officially opened, and wish you fruitful and
successful deliberations.
I thank you for your attention
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