Article from his days in DCC:
"Plans outlined for Dars facelift
By Timothy Kitundu
The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project has taken off, following the signing of a contract last week between the Dare es Salaam City Council (DCC) and M/S Logit Engenharia Consultiva Ltd. of Brazil in association with Inter-Consult Tanzania.
The two consultancy firms will undertake a long-term conceptual design and detailed design of an initial corridor. The construction phase of the project will start shortly after the ten-month preliminary stage.
According to DCC Director Wilson Mukama, the BRT system which is being undertaken by the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit (DART) Project will have in place by August 2005 a demonstration BRT station and a BRT prototype bus, at Manzese area along the proposed 13 km road stretch.
According to Mukama, the DCC opted for the BRT system after making intensive assessment, and discovering that it was more viable and easier to run compared to other systems such as trams and metros.
The 200 passenger capacity buses would greatly reduce traffic congestion and environmental pollution at the city centre, as opposed to the present situation whereby over 7,000 commuter buses operate in the city, he said.
In terms of infrastructure, Mukama said that the DART project will take advantage of the existing major roads namely Morogoro road, Mandela Expressway, Nyerere Road, Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Kilwa Road.
Earlier in his presentation of the BRT system, former mayor of Bogotá Enrique Penalosa said that Dar es Salaam will be transformed into a city for people and not a city for cars and that one of the challenges of the project will be restricting the use of private cars at the city centre.
BRT will also aim at creating and putting emphasis on an environment for people and not for cars as what is being introduced (BRT) is not a transport system per se but rather a city model, Penalosa said.
According to Penalosa, Tanzania is endowed with vast tourist attractions such as waterfronts which could have attracted more tourists in the country had the appropriate infrastructure been put in place these are pedestrians streets and cycle-tracks.
Almost all open spaces seem to be reserved for cars but tourists like to walk, he said.
Citing an example, Penalosa said, restricting the use of private cars at Dar es Salaams city centre wont be new because in Zurich, Europes wealthiest city, 60 per cent of its residents use public transport while 20 per cent walk or use bikes.
In terms of traffic jams he said, in Bogotá for example, to ease congestion 20 per cent of those using public transport (BRT) are car owners.
The giant project is being jointly funded by the World Bank, Global Environmental Facility (GEF), the central government and the DCC which has set aside some Tsh. 150 million for the project. Each municipal council will pay Tsh. 50 million."