ARUSHA: Engineers from ministries and institutions involved in the management of transport projects, especially infrastructure projects, are in Arusha Region to receive training on strengthening project management to reduce costs and delays in projects in the country.
The five-day training has been organized by the Tanzania Road Association (TARA) where experts from Tanzania and Zambia will present various topics to build awareness among the engineers.
Speaking at the opening of the training, the guest of honor who is also the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Rural and Urban Roads Agency (TARURA), Engineer Florian Kabaka, said there are serious shortcomings among experts, especially during contracts that lead to losses for the government, so the training will help them in their areas.
“There have been many problems in our contracts, many problems in those contracts including contracts changing or exceeding the budget set, claims that were not present in the previous contracts or other problems were discovered arising from changing work standards because they were not previously discussed properly and thus causing losses to the government”, he said.
He said that due to this situation, the transport sector in collaboration with TARA have seen fit to conduct such training so that executives can implement contracts accurately and efficiently from the time the projects are designed until their implementation is completed.
However, Engineer Kabaka has advised that it is better for project managers who are hired, especially those who are inexperienced, to be under the supervision of professionals to eliminate the possibility of causing losses to the government.
Engineer Pharles Ngeleja from TARURA said that there is a need for the transport sector to grow rapidly, especially in rural areas, so they, as TARURA, have been able to open up many areas, especially villages, by building road infrastructure including bridges using stone technology.
He said that since the establishment of TARURA in 2017, they have succeeded in building approximately 453 stone bridges, thus saving a lot of money and also benefiting the citizens economically and socially.
“In many areas, they have now been opened and thus the citizens can access social services and be able to transport their crops easily, thus increasing their economic growth”, he said.
He said the five-day training was attended by engineers from OR-PAL, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Works, Road Fund, TARURA and TANROADS.
