UBT now spins money

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Jan 2, 2008
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UBT now spins money
By Dominic Nkolimwa
25th November 2009
The government lost a total of 4.5bn/- in the last five years a private company Smart Holdings Limited operated the Ubungo Bus Terminal.
This follows a disclosure by the Dar es Salaam City Council Director, Bakari Kingobi to a councillors’ meeting yesterday that since the government took over the terminal, it was collecting 4m/-per day compared to 1.5m/- which was being collected by the private firm.
The difference between what Smart Holdings Limited collected and what the City Council has been able to collect comes to 2.5m/- daily or 75m/- a month.
The City Council could have earned the equivalent of 1.44bn/- per year or 7.20bn/- for the five years on an average of 30 days a month and the rates remaining constant.
“I will bring a well prepared report about the terminal, but you should understand that we collect that much daily,” Kingobi told the councillors.
UBT accommodates more that 50,000 people and 700 vehicles enter and leave the terminal a day. Several businesses are conducted within the terminal which are subject to taxation.
The Dar es Salaam regions commissioner, William Lukuvi said effective October the government had decided that the City Council should run the terminal instead of the private company. The contract between the company and the government ended after five years of the private company’s operations.
“Kinondoni municipal authorities will manage activities at the terminal prior to the announcement of a tender to look for another investor to operate the station and collect revenue accordingly,” he said.
A new investor would be appointed on merit through tender bids, RC Lukuvi clarified.
Early March, the Prime Minister, Mizengo Pinda directed the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) to audit revenue collection records at the terminal and have the report ready for assessment a month later.
The report has since been handed over to the Prime Minister.
The prime minister issued the directives at the end of a three-day official tour of Ilala, Temeke and Kinondoni municipalities in Dar es Salaam.
The move was meant to improve tax regime for the Dar es Salaam City Council which has been receiving an average of 1.5m/- from the bus terminal daily irrespective of the revenue raised on that particular day.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

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