Posted on October, 14, 2019 at 09:50 am
MINISTER for Agriculture Japhet Hasunga has called on the contractor of silos and warehouses in Sumbawanga to speed up in order to complete the project as per contract agreement.
The Minister said the company that won the tender of the project – UNIA ARAJ REALICZJE from Poland subcontracted another company – ELERAI CONSTRUTION CO. LTD of Arusha, and decried the slow pace of the project.
Hasunga said last week during his inspection visit of the project in Mpanda Municipal Council in Katavi region, the project that will greatly benefit the farmers of cereals crops.
He said through the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) and Cereals and Other Products Board (CPB) the government will be able to purchase huge quantities of crops for long time storage.
However, he said, the contractor’s work pace of the silos and warehouses as well as other infrastructures is unsatisfactorily slow.
He said the government has resolved to increase the country’s storage capacity for farmers’ benefit especially cereal crops, which will make them increase production thereof to increase the GDP.
He said the silos will have the capacity to store 20,000 tons of cereals whilst other infrastructure works – the construction of the administrative building, an ordinary 5,000-ton capacity warehouse and a big electronic weigh bridge.
He said total cost is USD 6m, equivalent to 14b/- for the Kanondo Sumbawanga Project, and warned that the government will not extend the time for the completion of the project.
The project’s time until completion is 18 months for Rukwa which started January 14 2019 to be completed on July 14 2020 while for Kanondo Mpanda it started September 8 2019 and expected to be completed by March 8 2021.
Upon the completion of the twin projects Rukwa Region’s NFRA’s will have warehouses with storage capacity of 58,000 tons whilst for Katavi Region the storage capacity will be 28,000 tons, including the old warehouses.
Source: IPP Media