Tanzania’s Minister for Transport Samuel Sitta has suspended indefinitely Tanzania Ports Authority’s (TPA) acting director Madeni Kipande pending an investigation into alleged violations of procurement procedures.
Sitta said that the Ministry received a number of complaints from port users regarding the irregularities and the lack of transparency in the tendering processes at the port of Dar es Salaam.
Awadhi Massawe will replace Kipande while a six-member team investigates the alleged misconducts.
Tanzania Shippers Council (TSC) Chairman Daniel Mchome welcomed the suspension saying that for over two years the TPA had ignored the private sector in the decision making process.
The port of Dar es Salaam is set to undergo an expansion, with the World Bank as the leading financier of the USD565 million project. Sitta said that the project will not be affected by the suspension.
Tanzania looks to boost port capacity to 28 million tonnes a year by 2020. In 2013/2014 the country’s ports handled 14.6 million tonnes.
According to the World Bank, Tanzania and the neighbouring countries lose up to USD2.6 billion a year through port inefficiencies.
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