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Make CAG report on the UBT public
By Editor
26th November 2009
News that the government is now collecting 4m/- in revenue per day from the Ubungo Bus Terminal (UBT) compared to a paltry 1.5m/- that was being collected by a private firm, speaks volumes and is a sad reminder of the many lost opportunities that we, as a nation, have failed to utilize to garner sufficient resources with which to undertake crucial development projects.
According to the revelation, made by the Dar es Salaam City Council Director, Bakari Kingobi on Tuesday, the government lost a total of 4.5bn/- in the last five years when the private company, Smart Holdings Limited operated the terminal and collected revenue on behalf of the government.
Surprisingly, the 1.5m/- collected by the firm per day over the last five years remained constant all along even when there were rate increases. There were no good business days and days when things were down. This, in our view, does not make business sense.
We therefore, first commend the government for its decision not to renew the contract of the private operator and handing-over the operations of the country's biggest bus terminal to the City fathers as a stop-gap measure.
According to the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, William Lukuvi, the next step will be to float the tender and get another investor to operate the terminal and collect revenue accordingly.
Although Lukuvi was quick to assure the public that the new investor would be appointed on merit through tender bids, we call for caution. If the City fathers can make a staggering 4m/- per month from the terminal, we are sure a much more efficient and business-oriented investor can collect more than that amount.
Dar es Salaam, the country's commercial capital is among the country's urban centres that are poorly planned and lack some of the basic infrastructures. The aim, therefore, should be to increase revenue collection at the busy terminal so that the resources can be channeled to projects aimed at improving the city infrastructures.
We therefore wish to call for careful scrutiny and transparency in picking the next investor so that we don't give room to fraudsters and people who cannot show any accomplishments in public service delivery.
However, we still believe the first investor has questions to answer. With this revelation, we believe Smart Holdings Limited should be made to tell the public the causes of their dismal performance.
We believe that this would very much assist the government to put in place measures to ensure that all potential revenue at the terminal is collected and used for bettering the city.
The lessons learnt from the private operator would also help the government to see to it that those who win contracts to serve the people, strictly adhere to them.
While we have cause to suspect Smart Holdings Limited over its running of the UBT, we believe the audit report by the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) on the terminal which is now in the hands of the Prime Minister has the answers to the many questions we have raised. We appeal to the Prime Minister to make the report public.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
By Editor
26th November 2009
News that the government is now collecting 4m/- in revenue per day from the Ubungo Bus Terminal (UBT) compared to a paltry 1.5m/- that was being collected by a private firm, speaks volumes and is a sad reminder of the many lost opportunities that we, as a nation, have failed to utilize to garner sufficient resources with which to undertake crucial development projects.
According to the revelation, made by the Dar es Salaam City Council Director, Bakari Kingobi on Tuesday, the government lost a total of 4.5bn/- in the last five years when the private company, Smart Holdings Limited operated the terminal and collected revenue on behalf of the government.
Surprisingly, the 1.5m/- collected by the firm per day over the last five years remained constant all along even when there were rate increases. There were no good business days and days when things were down. This, in our view, does not make business sense.
We therefore, first commend the government for its decision not to renew the contract of the private operator and handing-over the operations of the country's biggest bus terminal to the City fathers as a stop-gap measure.
According to the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, William Lukuvi, the next step will be to float the tender and get another investor to operate the terminal and collect revenue accordingly.
Although Lukuvi was quick to assure the public that the new investor would be appointed on merit through tender bids, we call for caution. If the City fathers can make a staggering 4m/- per month from the terminal, we are sure a much more efficient and business-oriented investor can collect more than that amount.
Dar es Salaam, the country's commercial capital is among the country's urban centres that are poorly planned and lack some of the basic infrastructures. The aim, therefore, should be to increase revenue collection at the busy terminal so that the resources can be channeled to projects aimed at improving the city infrastructures.
We therefore wish to call for careful scrutiny and transparency in picking the next investor so that we don't give room to fraudsters and people who cannot show any accomplishments in public service delivery.
However, we still believe the first investor has questions to answer. With this revelation, we believe Smart Holdings Limited should be made to tell the public the causes of their dismal performance.
We believe that this would very much assist the government to put in place measures to ensure that all potential revenue at the terminal is collected and used for bettering the city.
The lessons learnt from the private operator would also help the government to see to it that those who win contracts to serve the people, strictly adhere to them.
While we have cause to suspect Smart Holdings Limited over its running of the UBT, we believe the audit report by the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) on the terminal which is now in the hands of the Prime Minister has the answers to the many questions we have raised. We appeal to the Prime Minister to make the report public.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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