Tanga — ZANZIBAR Second Vice President Hemed Suleiman Abdulla has directed the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) to promote Tanga Port in locally and internationally to make it handle more cargo in utilizing new capacity upon expansion.
The Second Vice President made the statement yesterday as the expansion project for the port is nearing to completion.
When inspecting the progress of the project, he told TPA Director General Eric Hamissi that for the port to handle more cargo they must advertise the port.
The improvement and expansion of the Tanga port is being undertaken by Chinese contractor, China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC).
He said the government has injected about 400bn/- for the expansion and improvement works aimed at reviving the port for stimulating economies for the Isles and mainland.
“The government has injected more than 400bn/- to improve Tanga Port; we need to see positive impacts of the allocated money. This port is very important not only for Tanga region but for the Isles, northern zone regions and East African countries. You should make sure this port is well advertised international while the construction improvement is going on,” he said.
He added: “In your marketing strategies make sure you include better prices for handling ships and cargo consignment as well as put conducive environments for business people to attract them.”
Responding to VP directives, TPA Director General Hamissi admitted that the authority did not make enough promotion for Tanga port and pledged to do so in collaboration with Tanzania’s embassies abroad.
“It’s is true that we didn’t make effective advertisement strategies for the port but currently we look forward to making sure that we use Tanzania’s embassies abroad to market the port through adverts, presentations, brochures and flyers,” said.
For his side, China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) project manager LYU WEI said the construction was in two phases.
The Phase I, constructed at 172bn/- has been completed by 100 percent since May 2020.
The works done during Phase one included dredging of depth of berths, improving equipment, designing and navigational surveys.
The Phase II, costing 256bn/-, included soft soil and ground treatment, installing furnitures, constructing yard pavement, service facility and others.
He said after the dredging it will enable big ships to dock at the port’s dockyard with about 200 meters.
The project has seen dredging of berths and increased their depths from between 4 to 7 metres to between 13 to 15 metres.
By end of this year two key machineries which are Mobile Harbour Crane and Rubber Tyred Genty would arrive for the port.
For his side, Tanga Port Manager Donald Ngaile said the completion of Tanga Port renovation will decongest Dar es Salaam Port, cut cost of double handling for about 40 percent, handling about three millions tonnes of cargo annually from current 700,000 tonnes.