UDART to get NMB lifeline

DAR ES SALAAM: NMB Bank has agreed to support the UDA Rapid Transit Public Limited Company (UDART) by lending to the government some money to finance purchase of more than 100 rapid transit buses.

The government owns 85 per cent stake in UDART.

The Treasury Registrar Mr Nehemia Mchechu said yesterday that expanding UDART’s fleet will help alleviate transportation challenges in Dar es Salaam City.

“We are going to increase the number of buses and will be used on the main route for now, not on the feeder route,” said Mr Mchechu in a press conference.

He said UDART, previously managed by the private sector with minimal government involvement, had accumulated substantial debts, particularly in its bus fleet operations.

“We had a series of discussions with DART and UDART in the past two months, which oversee operations and the bus project,” he added.

The Treasury Registrar also highlighted the need to expand bus operation management to mitigate risks associated with the dependence of a lone operator.

“Currently, we need to have at least five or six companies, rather than depending on just one to avoid disturbances if the company encounters issues such as strikes,” he stressed.

Regarding the development of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project which is under the Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC), Mr Mchechu said currently the registrar’s office and the railway cooperation are revising the TRC’s strategic plan to boost the economy.

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“Currently, there is an open corridor dubbed ‘virtual’ which includes neighboring countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia, and Angola and this has pushed us to revisit the TRC strategic plan to grasp the opportunity,” he stated.

He added that the revision will focus mainly on the use of SGR and MGR railways to improve the business by ensuring that they are all connected with ports to be able to transport cargo to the neighboring countries.

“It is obvious that cargo transportation has become a major business, so once we improve our two projects the government through cooperation will generate more profit,” he said.