Prof Makame Mbarawa, the Works and Transport minister, affirmed this to the National Assembly late on Tuesday when wrapping up debate of the ministry’s estimates for fiscal 2023.24.
The shift is expected to increase customs collections from the current 7.56trn/- to 26.7trn/- by 2030, he said, hinting that the ministry will in the next financial year start building Bagamoyo port.
It will have capacity to host large ships, thus assuring the country an influx of shipping vessels as Africa trade needs expand, he said, acknowledging the advice issued by MPs and other stakeholders on the issues.
He particularly cited MPs’ remarks on the importance of attracting investors to run operations at the Dar es Salaam port through public private partnership (PPP) contracts, to improve performance and revenue collection from the port.
Any investor interested in taking part in port operations will have to meet specific conditions set out by the government, chiefly regarding international standards for the port to be more competitive.
Such investor will be required to come up with a viable solution on cargo freight from point of origin to the client, addressing cargo clearance challenges, he said.
Eligible investors must be international companies with a proper network and vast experience in the shipping industry, capable of securing new markets, he asserted.
Inviting the private sector to operate the port is a trending port management strategy worldwide, as many countries have invested in private companies to run port operations.
“As a country we have no reason to fear when it comes to involving the private sector in port operation,” he said, noting that countries that are using the private sector in their ports have recorded huge successes.
Improved efficiency at the port would reduce ship anchorage stay from five days to 24 hours, cutting down the time for container offloading from four days to an average of 18 hours, he specified.
Clearance time will be cut from two hours to 30 minutes, with the volume of cargo rising from 20.18m tonnes on average per year to 47.57m tonnes, he stated.
During fiscal 2020/21 the port handled 20.73m tons, a 30.5 percent increase from 15.67m tonnes handled in 2015/16 but the increase was still too low in comparison with the port potential, he said.
Dar es Salaam port faces strong competition in attracting cargo meant for Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after various countries attracted private investors to run port operations and are reaping big from the facilities.
The key rival ports are Mombasa, Durban, Beira and Walvis Bay in Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia respectively, he added.
