THE government yesterday said it may have to terminate its contract with RITES Limited of India if no consensus emerges from ongoing talks between the two sides. The Minister for Infrastructure Development, Dr Shukuru Kawambwa (pictured), told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the government was currently in dialogue with the firm to discuss possibilities of amending some of the terms of the controversial 2007 contract.
However, Dr Kawambwa noted that the decision to terminate the contract was fraught with pitfalls, and that the government was determined to follow all the procedures to keep itself at a safe side when it deems say bye to RITES.
The minister also expressed government concern over the firms move to withdraw its locomotives and coaches from the Tanzania Railway Limited (TRL) system, vowing that the government would not accept to be held at ransom.
He further said that the government has learned that the contract with RITES was a thorn in the flesh as far as development of the railway sector was concerned and it was now considering its termination soon if no agreement is reached.
Rites has involved in something very peculiar withdrawing its 25 locomotives goes against our letter requesting them not to do so we never expected them to hold us at ransom. I wonder whether they will be able to make it up, he said.
Dr Kawambwa also said that the government had since written to Rites again, explaining that its decision was not fair because the TRL was also in debt with many other firms, which were patient as dialogues were underway with the government on their payments.
According to him, government was not happy with the procedures followed in the leasing of the RITES locomotives and it believes that some of the terms of agreement were breached by the firm.
The minister also blamed the TRL for not hastening in asking the government to intervene after it had failed to settle the debt now amounting to 15bn/- in lease fees since 2007. In the meantime, he says the government would ensure that rail transport services on the central railway do not cease, and that it would repair all the assets inherited from the former Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC).
The government would like to assure Tanzanians that railway operations continue as usual, he said.
Dr Kawambwa also dismissed as baseless claims by workers that they had repaired 17 coaches without consent from their employers and at no pay, saying that the repairs were done by the government with spare parts acquired on loan from the Railways Asset Holding Company (RAHCO).
He further warned the workers not to engage themselves in the contract implementations or terminations processes as they were not in capacity of making any decision on the matter. He urged them to remain calm as their jobs would not be affected by the saga.
Earlier, the TRL Public Relations Officer, Midladjy Maez, told this paper that following the saga, the train trips have been reduced to two per week from the previous four. The trips are on Tuesday and Friday and none of the two is express.
He said that previously there were four trips on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday respectively out of which the Wednesday trip was Express using the 23 coaches now withdrawn from service following its involvement in the recent accident which occurred in Morogoro region.
Mr Maez noted that the trips from Dar es Salaam departs into two upon reaching Tabora in which one heads to Kigoma and another one heads to Mwanza and the two trips are made to reunite on way back to Dar es Salaam at the same station.
Daily News
Post published in: Economy