Dar City Council: We will run UBT

BAK · 2010-06-14T13:33:59+00:00

Dar City Council: We will run UBT By Dominic Nkolimwa 14th June 2010 Ubungo Bus Terminal After a prolonged battle over the management of the Ubungo Bus Terminal, the Dar es Salaam City Council has finally taken full control of the facility. The city council which was running the facility on temporary basis, while seeking another private operator, now says it will keep full control of the terminal. The management contract of Smart Holdings Limited in running the terminal expired in October last year. Under the present city council's plan, private operators would only be contracted to collect revenues at the main gates, while other daily business operations inside the terminal would be managed by the council itself. "We conducted a thorough study of the flow of income and revenue collection at the terminal before announcing a tender to secure new operator and realised that the performance by private companies was unsatisfactory," City Council's Executive Director, Bakari Kingobi told The Guardian in an exclusive interview. He said after studying business trends at the terminal, the council has decided to hire the private sector to run some portions of the facility and leave the management with other operations inside the terminal in the hands of the government. "We will only hire private company to manage entrance gates….in fact, we will not give private investors full control of the terminal," said Kingobi. The study by the city council, according to the official, revealed that private operators contracted to manage the terminal had been earning a lot of money compared to what they submitted to the council. The official was optimistic that the council was capable and had enough resources to run the terminal and effectively supervise collection of revenues. Already, the city council had announced a tender for the management of the gates at the terminal, asking prospective and competent bidders to submit their applications. The government is reported to have lost 4.5bn/- being revenues from the operations of the facility, last year when the terminal was being run by a private company. According to Kingobi, after the government took control of the terminal, the city council had been collecting 4m/- per day compared to 1.5m/- which used to be collected by the Smart Holdings Ltd. UBT accommodates more that 50,000 people with 700 vehicles enter and leave the terminal each day. Several businesses are conducted within the terminals which are subject to taxes and rent. In early March, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda directed the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) to audit revenue collection records at the terminal. 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 directive was meant to improve the revenue base for the Dar es Salaam City Council. SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Thread starter BAK
Start date Jun 14, 2010

BAK

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Dar City Council: We will run UBT

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