We need more Tanzanian engineers in SGR: experts
What you need to know:
- Speaking yesterday during a tour of the project by ERB board members, board chairman Ninatubu Lema said they were impressed by level of engineering expertise, use of modern equipment, and the fact that the project had employed many Tanzanians.
Kibaha. The Engineers Registration Board (ERB) has called for more involvement of local engineers in the Standard Gauge Railway project (SGR).
Speaking yesterday during a tour of the project by ERB board members, board chairman Ninatubu Lema said they were impressed by level of engineering expertise, use of modern equipment, and the fact that the project had employed many Tanzanians.
Prof Lema, however, expressed concern on the low level of involvement of Tanzanian engineers in the project. Briefing the ERB team, the construction company Yap Merkezi’s planning chief Mr Enis Eryilmaz, said the company employed over 4,000 workers, 90 per cent of whom were Tanzanians.
He said progress in the first phase of the SGR construction project has reached 16 per cent and they expected to complete the Dar es Salaam- Morogoro stretch of the project by November next year. Eryilmaz expressed optimism that the project would be completed as scheduled, mentioning that they would start laying rail tracks in August this year. He said heavy rains delayed their progress but now that the rainy season had ended they were working day and night.
ERB board member Engineer Esinati Osinde asked contractors to involve more women in the project.
“We have been informed that the contractor plans to increase a number of engineers but, women should not be left out,” he said.
