TRAFFIC JAM IN CHINA

Interchanges and overpasses are not always solutions to traffic jams in our cities.

Will Interchange s in Dar solve the traffic congestions

Roads being constructed on credit, House report says

Major road projects commissioned in the current budget estimates are being carried out on credit, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Infrastructure has declared.

Tabling the committee report on the performance of the government in infrastructure from April 2011 to early this month, committee chairman Peter Serukamba said that by late March, three months before tabling the new budget, the government had disbursed Sh 351.977 billion out of Sh 609.743 billion allocated in 2011/2012 budget estimates.

Worse, large chunks of money disbursed this financial year have been spent in offsetting debts accumulated while implementing the previous budget (2010/2011), amounting to Sh 420 billion. “If the government has so far disbursed only Sh 351.977 billion out of Sh 607.743 billion allocated for roads for this financial year, while the same ministry had debts amounting to Sh 420 billion accumulated in the previous budget, the simple interpretation here is that most road projects being implemented currently are carried out on credit,” Serukamba stressed.

The committee chairman states in his report that until March 2012 the government owed construction companies a total of Sh 331.501 billion in domestic funds.

He said that such a financial gap has forced nine road contractors in various regions to suspend construction while 14 others have slowed down the pace of construction.

Road projects whose implementation has been suspended due to lack of funds include Mbeya-Mkongorosi, Lwanjilo-Chunya, Isaka-Lusahunga, Isaka-Ushirombo, Kanazi-Kizi-Kibaoni, Sumbawanga-Kanazi, Mwigumbi-Maswa-Bariadi and Jetcorner-Vituka-Davis Corner.

Two contractors for Handeni-Mkata and Nyanguge-Musoma roads issued a notice of intention to suspend construction. “This trend is not good at all,” Serukamba declared.

Speaking on ATCL, Serukamba said the committee was saddened by the manner in which the government issued its guarantee to ATCL so that it could lease an aircraft- Airbus 420-214 from Wallis Trading of Lebanon for six years.

The committee raised serious concern on the agreement between ATCL and the company, considering the fact that while the lease agreement was signed on October 2007 the government guarantee was issued on April 2, 2008, almost six months later.

The committee stated that the lease agreement was entered between the two parties against the technical advice of ATCL technicians. The technicians, according to the report, had said it was not advisable to lease the aircraft that would fly for six months before going for major maintenance (Check C).

It is stated in the report that after the lease agreement was signed the aircraft stayed in the hands of the leasing company for about seven months waiting government guarantee.

The aircraft flew in the country on May 2008 and operated for only six months before flying on July 2009 to France for Check C at ATCL cost. However, the plane was not brought back to the country after ATCL failed to settle the debt amounting to $3,009,495. The government guaranteed the leasing at $60,000,000 as of June 30, 2011.

Due to ATCL’s failure to pay the debt the government was forced to pay Sh 121 billion that included its guarantee and the interest rate. Serukamba said the trend was detrimental to the country’s welfare.

SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY

Tanzania Ministry directed to revive ports, railways

The Parliamentary Committee for Infrastructure has directed the Ministry of Transport to present its intensive and strategic plans in parliament, which starts its session on Tuesday, on how it will effectively revamp the ports and railways network to effectively contribute to the national economy.

Briefing journalists after meeting with officials from the ministry and Tanzania Ports Authority’s (TPA) management in Dar es Salaam on Thursday, the committee’s Vice-Chairperson, Mrs Anne Killango Malecela, said revamping of ports operations and railway infrastructure will be the committee’s top agenda this year.

She said the committee was concerned on the general contribution of the ports and railways to the economy and was keen to see enormous realistic government plans to improve them. “And we are not talking of the Dar es Salaam port alone, we are equally advocating for all ports across the country to be given the attention they deserve.

It has reached a point where the public believes that nothing can be done to revive these potential sectors,” she said. Earlier, the committee held a closed meeting with the ministry and TPA officials at theDar es Salaam port yesterday, but Ms Kilango was reluctant to reveal details of the meeting.

However, she admitted the meeting dealt with sensitive matters and that the government gave assurances that it was doing everything in its powers to improve ports and railways infrastructure. She stressed that the public was anxiously waiting to see more positive contribution of the sector than the current situation.

“And we can assure you that the next budget will concentrate on seeing these talks bear fruit, and we are going to hold other meetings in Dodoma,” she noted. Approached for comment, the Minister for Transport, Mr Omari Nundu, said he was not in the position to give any comment since he was only called to appear before the committee.

He said his ministry was set to work on the committee’s directives. There have been a number of plans that need financial investments to improve ports’ infrastructure especially the Dar es Salaam Port, one being increasing the depths of all the seven berths to allow handling of all types of vessels.

TPA has already secured a grant worth 1.1 million US Dollars (about 1.8bn/-) for the project’s feasibility study which would eventually see the port more efficient and able to compete in the global maritime business.

By PIUS RUGONZIBWA, Tanzania Daily News

AfDB lends Tanzania and Sierra Leone $250 mln for roads

TUNIS (Reuters) – The African Development Bank Group said on Thursday it has approved $250mln for road construction projects in Tanzania and Sierra Leone.

http://in2eastafrica.net/afdb-lends-tanzania-and-sierra-leone-250-mln-for-roads/

Firm wins 220bn/- Dar road, flyover projects

The government has awarded a 220bn/- contract to a German contractor ‘Straberg’ for the construction of 21 kilometres of roads and five flyovers under the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit project.

Minister for Works, Dr John Magufuli revealed this in Dar es Salaam yesterday during a ceremony where he was offered with Honorary Certificate Fellowship by theTanzania Institute of Engineers.

Minister for Works - Mr. Magufuli

He said under the project set for take off in the next two weeks the 21-kilometre road stretch will be from Kivukoni to Kimara area while the flyovers will be built at Tazara, Ubungo, Magomeni, Fire, Kamata and Chang’ombe road junctions to address the problem of congestion.

“The government has disbursed a total of 220bn/- to the contractor for implementation of DART. The contractor has promised to hand over the project within 36 months,” he noted.

The minister called on other stakeholders including the Transport and Communication Ministry to support the efforts to reduce extreme congestion in Dar es Salaam.

Dr Magufuli said under the project a total of 29 bus stands and service roads will constructed.

He said that President Jakaya Kikwete is expected to lay a foundation stone for the project in April this year.

According to him Dar es Salaam has a total of 506 kilometres of roads, but only 120 are under tarmac, adding that plans are underway for their expansion.

Dr Magufuli said laws and regulations will be properly applied during the expansion of the roads to ensure justice for all.

He said among the main sources of road congestion in the city is the Ubungo Bus Terminal which he said is to be relocated to Bunju area in the outskirts of the city.

He called on engineers not to hesitate to advise the government on various matters, saying they can directly seek consultation with the President or channel their request through his office.

“You should not hesitate to advise the government because this country is ours,” he said.

He said his office has received requests from Ilala, Kinondoni and Temeke municipal councils for the upgrading of 27 roads from district to trunk roads. He said stakeholders including engineers are today expected to meet to discuss its implementation.

For his part, the President of the Institute of Engineers Tanzania Dr Malima Bundala who presented the certificate to Dr Magufuli said the minister had been awarded in recognition of his contribution to the sector.

Bundala said the appointment of members of honour of best engineers is always made by the council to recognise an individual’s unique contribution to the development of the engineers’ profession for provision of better service to the community.

DART public relations manager William Gatambi was recently quoted saying implementation of the project has encountered a number of challenges, including traders defying the order to vacate premises to pave the way for construction of the roads.

He said some residents agreed to shift soon after they had been paid compensation, but others have been reluctant to do so.

Speaking during the DART official launch in August 2010, President Jakaya Kikwete said it will be completed in 2025. He directed the ministry responsible to deploy qualified contractors to implement the project.

He said the number of vehicles in Dar es Salaam was expected to reach 500,000 by 2030 from the current slightly over 100,000, adding to the congestion unless measures to address it were taken.

Dar es Salaam contributes 75 per cent of the country’s economy, calling for measures to address its transport problems.

Dar’s traffic jams are said to be costing the economy 4bn/- daily, equivalent to over 1.4trn/- per year.

Source The Guardian

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Red Deer AB : Council votes down proposed roundabouts

By Kirsten Palardy
Published: April 04, 2012 7:57 AM

Monday night’s council meeting saw lengthy debate over the effectiveness, cost, and benefits of two roundabout intersections on 32nd St. at Spruce Dr. and one at 32nd St. and 40th Ave.

Council ultimately voted against the proposed roundabouts at both of these intersections.

During the meeting, councillors heard from Engineering Services Manager Frank Colosimo who said extensive research had been done in the viability of a roundabout option instead of a traditional signalized intersection.

“One thing we found about the roundabout improvements was that roundabouts work better than a conventional intersection because of a few key turning movements that failed at the traditional intersections,” said Colosimo.

However, the concern of many councillors was safety as well as whether or not there would be a cost savings if the City were to go ahead with the roundabout option.

Colosimo did explain that there would be a long-term benefit of roundabouts functioning better at the 110,000 population mark for the City but that after that point other changes would need to be made.

“Somewhere between the 110,000 and 180,000 population mark a roundabout and a traditional intersection would both fail without other improvements to the roads. But a roundabout failure would be worse.”

Colosimo explained that the line up of cars for a roundabout versus a traditional intersection would be almost three times as long if the intersection were to fail to uphold the traffic capacity.

City Manager Craig Curtis said one of the things he saw being a hazard was the loss of a crosswalk at 32nd St. and 40th Ave.

There would be no way to signalize a crosswalk at a roundabout style intersection, making it a large issue for many of the councillors.

“I appreciate the work done by the department in finding that roundabouts would work but I just don’t see them in these locations,” said Curtis.

Colosimo did say, however, that roundabouts are actually proven through research to be safer intersections.

“We were able to compare the number of collisions as well as the severity and found that there are no right angle collisions, instead they’re lower impact side swipe type accidents where fewer injuries result,” said Colosimo.

Council ended up voting against the roundabouts in these locations but Curtis said with the time and effort that was put into the study of the roundabouts that they could potentially be established elsewhere in the City.

“We would have to educate the public before implementing any roundabout because perception is that people are not ready for roundabouts,” said Colosimo.



kpalardy@reddeerexpress.com