Kigamboni Bridge construction stalls

Dodoma. Construction of the Kigamboni Bridge has stalled because of alleged government failure to honour its obligations in financing the project.

Parliament was told yesterday that the government is yet to release its share of the project funds, leading to a slow pace by the contractor.

The Community Development Committee has warned in its annual report that if the government does not make the money available quickly, the project might grind to halt.

According to the project agreement, the government was supposed to provide 40 per cent of $143.5 million (Sh248 billion) and National Social Security Fund (NSSF) would provide the balance.

Tabling the report, committee chairman Juma Mtanda (Mchinga – CCM) noted that, the government had not fulfilled its part of the deal todate.

“This has prompted NSSF to take steps to rescue the project. But in the process, the government’s indifference threatens success of the project which is scheduled for completion in June this year,” he explained.

The legislator reminded the House that, the government had promised to compensate people whose properties would be damaged to pave the way for the project but it hadn’t done so.

The project, sealed under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, is being undertaken by China Railway Construction Engineering group in collaboration with China Major Bridge Engineering Co Ltd.

The government reportedly owes NSSF a whopping Sh811 billion.

According to the committee, the two sides had agreed that, the government would reduce the debt by Sh301 billion by November 2014 but that hadn’t been done by the deadline.

If the debt wasn’t cleared, Mr Mtanda cautioned, grandiose projects lined up for the earmarked Kigamboni Mega City would stall.

These include a Bunge Village, MPs’ offices, Dege Eco Village and Apollo Hospital.

Besides NSSF, the government is also indebted to the Parastatal Pensions Fund (over Sh236.25 billion), which it borrowed for construction of Parliament Hall in Dodoma and Nelson Mandela University in Arusha.

The committee chaiman lamented that, budget allocation for ministries under his docket were small.

He furthermore told Parliament that the government does not release funds that Parliament endorses in full, but only portions of specific amounts.

He cited the ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children, which was given only 28 per cent of its 2013/14 allocation. It was allocated Sh17.3 billion but got only Sh5.3 billion, Mr Mtanda elaborated, adding that, halfway the latest financial year, it had received only Sh4.3 billion (26 per cent) of the approved Sh16.5 billion.

The government conceded in Parliament this week that it has been operating on a shoestring budget for the past six months.

Finance minister Saada Mkuya said on Saturday that, over that period, the government had largely been depending on Tanzania Revenue Authority collections to run its activities.

However, averaging Sh800 billion monthly, the collections are only enough to meet first charges account which involves salaries and servicing the national debt, leaving other expenditures in limbo.

Numerous reports tabled by parliamentary committees last week point to one fact – the government has failed to finance development activities.

In their contributions, many MPs hammered on the reality of the situation by complaining that government has not released funds for development projects in their constituencies.

It is apparent that the decision by donors to withhold their general budget support of nearly Sh1 trillion pending the outcome of a probe on the escrow account scandal has adversely affected the government’s financial plans.