President Samia Suluhu Hassan has dissolved the Board of Directors of the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and the Board of the Shipping Services Company (MSCL) on suspicion of misconduct in a contract worth more than TZS 400 billion to build five ships between TPA and the Turkish company YÜTEK.
The President has taken this step during the official launch of the implementation of Gati Infrastructure Improvement Project 0 to 7 as well as the increase in sea depth at the main port gate at a ceremony held at the Port of Dar es Salaam.
Samia said that the shipbuilding companies didn’t have offices nor financial and professional capacity to build the ships.
President Suluhu explained that what the company is doing is taking the initiative to find companies that can do the job.
However, she expressed surprise at the port authorities saying that they conducted an investigation and were satisfied with the company’s capabilities.
Commenting on revenue collection at Dar es Salaam Port, President Suluhu said despite trends showing that revenue could increase, it could still increase further if concrete steps were taken to control losses.
A special report revealed the loss of large sums of money spent on hiring various companies to set up electronic revenue collection systems that did not deliver the intended solution.
Companies as Soft-Tech Consultant Ltd was awarded the tender of 694 million tz shillings and paid 600 million shillings.
The Twenty Third Company was awarded $ 6.6 million and paid $ 14.6 million.
The contract was terminated. SAP – East Africa Ltd was awarded US $ 433,000 while a Private Counselor was paid $31,920 President Suluhu has instructed the Minister of Works and Transport, the Director-General of the Authority Port in collaboration with the Institute for the Prevention of Corruption (PCCB) review the report and take appropriate action against those involved.
*This article was written by Gerald Gekara for Uzalendo News. Email: uzalendonews24@gmail.com to submit your story.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL
