Let’s develop our ports alongside ensuring safety of marine vessels

It says many of the ports had either been dormant or were running below capacity owing to various factors, the most conspicuous being the state and availability of infrastructure like berths, roads, buildings for passenger lounges and warehouses.

The ports include major ones in Mwanza city, Musoma municipality and Bukoba municipality, while among the ‘smaller’ are Nyamirembe in Chato District, Geita Region; Lushamba in Buchosa District, Mwanza Region; and Magarini in Muleba District, Kagera Region.   

A highly placed TPA official has states the obvious by saying that the refurbishing of these ports will increase their capacity in handling both passengers and cargo, thus attracting bigger numbers of all manner of users.

We say kudos to the national ports authority for the various initiatives it has been devising and implementing, with a view to breathing new life into transport services in Lake Victoria.

The lake is strategically situated, at least if one were to consider most of the relatively fast-growing economies in the eastern, southern and central Africa ‘sub-continent’ – and hence the great need for TPA to do its utmost to meet the rise in demand for its services.

But while we wholeheartedly commend TPA, we feel compelled to give a word of caution to both the agency itself and other institutions commonly working in collaboration it.

These include Marine Services Company and Tanzania Railways Corporation as well as the relevant regulatory authority, and the advice relates to the fundamental importance of always placing a premium on the safety of passengers and cargo.

The sounding the caution assumes even greater relevance considering that, as the level of activities in our ports rises so will the number of passengers and the volume of cargo – and even the remotest indication of clumsiness or tolerance of shoddy work would cost the nation a fortune.  

There is no need to go over the top about that if recent history of mishaps in Lake Victoria is to serve as any lesson. Many still remember the tragic sinking of MV Bukoba 23 years ago, whose cause was cited as overloading at the port of departure.

As happened, only a few years later, cargo ferry MV Nyamageni sank in the same lake – with the death of 20 people. It was claimed that the vessel was defective and had been officially barred from operating – but then see what happened!

And just over a year ago, at least 228 people died when their overloaded ferry – MV Nyerere – capsized in the lake somewhere between Ukerewe Island and Ukara Island.

So we strongly recommend that the idea should not be just about strengthening our ports so that they can handle more cargo and passengers.

Rather, safety considerations should supersede all others. After all, to what good would ‘efficiency’ be unless safety is its most important component?