Why there is debate on Dubai firm's 'proposal'

Dar es Salaam. A day after the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) refuted claims that the government was going to hand the Dar es Salaam port to the Dubai-based DP World for 100 years, port stakeholders said yesterday that the misinformation around the subject was because of a lack of concrete information on what is to happen.

On Monday, TPA was forced to issue a clarification over the matter in question following a hot debate on various social media platforms, with some claiming that the port has been handed over to the Dubai firm for a period of 100 years.

Apart from the 100 years misinformation, some quarters have it that the contract has already been signed while what the parliament was being asked to endorse the Framework Agreement that would allow the government to actually start engaging with the Dubai firm on areas of cooperation and how it [the cooperation] should be.

Debate on various social media platforms started immediately after the Parliament issued a statement, inviting stakeholders to give their opinions on the Parliament’s resolution for the recommendations on the ratification of the cooperation between the government of Tanzania and Dubai.

In October last year the two governments signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) on economic and social partnership for the development and improving performance of sea and lake ports in Tanzania.

TPA director general Plasduce Mbossa said the ongoing rumors on social media were not true and that the agreement entered between the two governments offered 12 months for the duo to discuss the areas for cooperation.

Mr Mbossa said in a statement that the cooperation was meant to generate more employment through investment in some areas of the Dar port as well as Special Economic and Industrial Zones by setting up factories.

The partnership, he added, would also create jobs through investments in the entire transportation value chain from Tanzania's ports to the neighboring countries which use the country’s ports.

“Efforts taken by the sixth phase government in attracting investments especially in port areas, are geared to getting rid of the long time challenges of high vessel turnaround time, cargo discharge time and inefficiencies of our ports,” said Mr Mbossa.

Tanzania Shipping Agents Association (Tasaa) chairman Daniel Malongo said the uproars out there were just a matter of being unaware of what was going on in the globe.

He said the government should conduct campaigns to raise awareness on why it was important to collaborate with the private sector in the running ports.

“In developed countries, including the US, major port terminals were being run by private investors and they are performing handsomely,” observed Mr Malongo.

This, he explained, was how they were raising productivity and government’s revenue.

“It makes no sense to have a port which is unproductive. We need know-how and technology to increase revenue. And DP World has all those qualities,” he suggested.

Works and Transport minister Makame Mbarawa told The Citizen in a recent interview that by working with DP World, the government expects to increase revenue collection through the port by 233.7 percent in the next ten years.

Prof Mbarawa said the target was to raise the amount in revenue that is collected from the port from the current Sh7.79 trillion per year to Sh26 trillion in the next decade.

An economist from the University of Dar es Salaam, Prof Abel Kinyondo, said lack of transparency was key in the ongoing misinformation and disinformation.

He was of the recommendation that citizens would have been given enough time to go through the IGA to pave no room for rumors which have now stolen the show in the debate.

“Lack of transparency may lead to a void that provides a room for people to narrate the matter as per their thoughts and not based on reality because they have nowhere to make a reference to,” Prof Kinyondo told The Citizen.

Warning: “Even if the deal is good for the government, misinformation and disinformation will make people view it as bad.”

His sentiments were echoed by an economist and trade expert, Dr Donath Olomi, on the grounds that lack of transparency was to blame for the uproars over the deal between the government and Dubai.

“We don’t need to rush. The content of IGA should have been communicated to the public so that citizens could offer constructive insights,” he recommended.

Tanzania Business Community director for communications Stephen Chamle said the question of entering partnership has been the long-time cry of members of the business community, insisting that the ongoing uproar could have been due to the lack of enough information on the matter.

DP World, he said, is an experienced logistics company that is capable of delivering the required nationwide transformation across the entire logistics value chain.

The company has a proven track record of managing, operating and investing in trade infrastructure in Africa for over 20 years to the highest international standards.

“For our partnership to be fruitful, we need to give DP World a probation period of say one year, and if they prove to be key to raising the performance of our ports then we can give them more years,” recommended Mr Chamle.

Encouraging

The ACT-Wazalendo Party Leader, Zitto Kabwe said he had heard of the Intergovernmental Agreement but that he was currently making a critical look at the document before making a serious comment.

Mr Kabwe, who once chaired the parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), said however that by bringing the Framework Agreement to parliament for debating, the government has shown that it wanted the project to go transparently.

“I was a Member of Parliament for 15 years but I can’t remember, not even once, that the government sought the Parliament’s endorsement whenever it wanted to get into a business contract with any company/country. What matters now is for MPs to have the national interest at heart,” he said.

He said as far as he can remember, the government could sign contracts without the involvement of the Parliament which was contrary to Article 63 (3) (e) of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977.

“That means after the Parliament endorses the Framework Agreement and issues its resolution that’s when the government starts negotiating the contract. It is a good step and the Parliament must now do its job,” he said.

In an indication that the government was now becoming more transparent, Mr Kabwe said he had previously heard the Energy minister Mr January Makamba stating that he would bring the Host Government Agreement for the Liquefied Natural Gas Plant to parliament for approval as soon as it gets approved by the cabinet.

“So now, I see the Parliament being asked to approve on this port issue. It is a good move. During our days in parliament, all we could hear were that contracts had been secretly signed in hotels somewhere,” he said.