THE BATTLE FOR $100 MILLION RAPID BUSES

The kind of vehicle that city commuters are looking forward to after the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit project is completed. PHOTO | FILE      

By The Citizen Reporters

Dar es Salaam. As Dar es Salaam residents wait with bated breath for modern rapid buses, the big question that seems to divide stakeholders is whether the $100 million (Sh186 billion) deal for over 300 rapid buses should be managed by foreign or local investors, The Citizen has learnt.

“So far the biggest headache is who will grab the over $100 million lucrative transport business…we are divided because some of us say local investors should be given this deal, while others, a minority, think that we need a foreign company at least during the interim period,” one source who is part of the inner-circle team that supervises the project told The Citizen under condition of anonymity, saying she was not authorised to discuss the details with the media.

Speaking to The Citizen on Tuesday, the source said there was a group of people who want the tender to operate the rapid buses to be awarded to a foreign-based company, noting that local investors lack technical and financial capacity to manage such a huge transport project.

The project trials, known technically as interim operation, were expected to take off in April, but there are no rapid buses. Neither have operators been given the necessary licenses. Dart is responsible for identifying, selecting and contracting the private operators.

“The group that wants foreign investors is backed even by some officials from the World Bank…but our understanding is that the very same bank initially supported the idea of having credible local investors to manage the rapid bus project,” the source said, adding:

“I am not quite sure if the government’s position is to have a reliable foreign investor for this project…the truth is that we are still divided.”

According to details gathered by The Citizen, the required buses to start the interim operation would cost roughly $100 million, considering the fact that one modern rapid bus costs between $250,000 and $300,000 depending on the capacity and quality.

It is estimated that a total of 177 buses with a capacity to carry 190 passengers each, and another 135 with carriage capacity of 90 passengers per bus, were supposed to be imported before the interim operation begun.

This is the period when the project would be tested before embarking on the full operation. The trial was set to start in April but was re-scheduled to June, according to reliable sources in the industry.

The $100 million figure estimated here does not include the compensation, which would be paid to all operators currently operating roughly 9,000 passenger buses to vacate the city to pave the way for Dart’s buses to take over.

During the interim project, it is estimated that over 1,500 buses would be phased out, meaning each one of these would be compensated to vacate the already established Dart routes.

Contacted yesterday over the phone, Mr Robert Kisena, the chief executive officer of UDA, which is one of the companies also interested in this deal said: “I am not in a position to disclose more details…Let us wait for the tender as it’s the government that has the final say on who should operate this project.”

Asked whether local investors have the capacity to operate this project, Mr Kisena responded: “Time will tell, but we can also learn from South Africa or China…let us give them (government) time to handle the matter professionally.”

Dart has spent Sh413.8 billion to upgrade and construct the modern bus rapid transit.

According to data gathered by The Citizen,, an additional Sh122.8 billion is needed to fully complete the second phase of the project that is expected to ease traffic jams, boost the mobility of residents, promote the use of Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) and improve the quality of urban development in Dar es Salaam, which is home to about five million people and the centre of the country’s economy.

Traffic jams reportedly cost the economy Sh4.5 billion daily, thanks to the growing number of vehicles on the roads plus the rapid population rise.

Dart project is expected to be the first in East Africa to fix its dilapidated public transport system. But this dream would appear to be elusive, at least for now.

The project trials were expected take off in April. But there are no rapid buses—and no operators have been given the necessary licenses. Dart is responsible for identifying, selecting and contracting the private operators to run the project.

Though no one was available from the WB to comment on the current situation, a quick perusal by The Citizen established that the Bank’s position was still the same—at least basing on some available official documents.

For instance, in 2010 the Bank’s then country director for Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi, Mr John Murray, said said during the official launching of the Dart project:

“Generally, the future Dart system should be owned by Tanzanians…There will be a need for international expertise to operate the system, but the ownership of the buses should be in Tanzanian hands. Let us work on the structure that will make this possible.”

The Citizen could not independently verify whether the Bank’s position has really changed as claimed by some players regarding having a local hand in the multibillion modern transport business.

CREDIT: THE CITIZEN