The Manager of the Rural and Urban Roads Agency TARURA in Dar es Salaam, Engineer Geofrey Mkinga has urged special groups of qualified labor contractors to seize the opportunity to procure the Agency’s works in the region as there is more than 15 billion for the implementation of these works this year.
He said this in his office while speaking to the Contractors of the special groups of qualified labor contractors in the region as the implementation of the Public Procurement Act of 2023 and the regulations of 2024 requires procurement institutions to allocate at least 30% of the procurement budget to these special groups.
He said the TARURA Dar es Salaam budget allocates more than 50 billion shillings of which 15 billion is for special contracting groups of qualified workforce but in the budget period between 2022 and 2025 it ends up taking an amount of 300 million shillings which was spent by those groups every year.
“Those special groups by not procuring the works of those Agencies in the NEST system for various reasons cause some projects not to be implemented in the region” said Engineer Mkinga.
He said that in Tanzania there are 597 groups registered in the NEST system but only ten groups registered from Dar es Salaam but even so those ten groups do not request those works in the region.
He mentioned some of the projects that are required to be carried out by those special groups if it is a legal requirement that they include procuring and managing contracts for design, maintenance, emergency maintenance, improvements, rehabilitation and construction of Roads.
Engineer Mkinga said they decided to meet with the Kandalasi to motivate them and listen to the challenges they face in procuring the work of the Agencies in the region and find solutions so that the legal requirement can be implemented by the groups in their region.
“We are ready to cooperate with you so that the government’s goal and purpose of allocating 30% of the funds for the group can be implemented”, he said
“We have heard your views and your challenges which concern the conditions of your full cooperation”, said Engineer Mkinga.
Speaking about the systemic challenges of NEST, he promised to address them through the use of their experts.
He urged them to thoroughly review the guidelines to know the responsibilities and conditions of their work between them and the Agencies and the government so that the government’s goal of allocating the Law can be achieved for the sustainable development of individual citizens and the nation as a whole.
One of the participants in the seminar, Mrs. Mate Kamba requested that Kandalasi residents be able to borrow through council funds because the projects, as they are guaranteed to be repaid due to their contracts being recognized by the government.
