DB Shapriya, Hyundai wanted TPA guarantee for bank loan

25Mar 2016
Finnigan wa Simbeye
Business
The Guardian
DB Shapriya, Hyundai wanted TPA guarantee for bank loan

A consortium involving DB Shapriya Construction Company and South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries which won an over US$ 214 million (approx 467.2bn/-) tender to construct Mtwara port last year wanted Tanzania Ports Authority to guarantee them get a bank loan for the job.

The view of Mtwara Port

Senior TPA management officials told Property Watch that the consortium wanted conditions for the tender to change after winning it. “Tender conditions were very clear, the winner had to find their own funding to construct the port under build operate and transfer arrangement,” one of the sources said.

TPA management rejected the idea although the consortium had strong backing from some elite bureaucrats and politicians serving in former President Jakaya Kikwete’s government.

“There was a lot of pressure on TPA to change the tender conditions but we rejected because it was contrary to public procurement regulations,” another source pointed out.

The sources warned that some of the individuals who wanted TPA to change the tender conditions are still in the current government and might be behind giving Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa wrong information.

“The PM has been misinformed by people who have vested interests,” the source stressed warning that if DB Shapriya and Hyundai consortium had money, the project would have already taken off.

Several email messages and phone calls to DB Shapriya for the past two weeks have not been responded until we went to press.

Earlier this month Majaliwa warned TPA officials behind delays in the construction of Mtwara port that they will be taken to task if the government establishes that they are at fault.

“I understand some of you at TPA are delaying the port project through PPRA, we are going to take action against such people if we establish the truth of the matter,” Majaliwa told TPA officials while on a tour of Mtwara port.

He said the Fifth Phase Government is determined to rapidly develop Mtwara port so that it can serve the growing demand brought by developments in oil and gas exploration, Mchuchuma and Liganga iron ore and coal projects and land locked countries of Zambia and Malawi.

Expansion of Mtwara port is projected to increase traffic to 28 million tons by year 2030. Currently the port has annual capacity of handling 400,000 tons but due to gas extraction and construction of Dango Cement Group’s mega factory, the port has been handling extra load.

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