Tanzania to construct Mbamba Bay port jetty

The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) has invited international firms to tender for the construction of the Mbamba Bay port jetty to ease transportation of goods to Malawi and Mozambique.

The Authority says work on the landing jetty at Mbamba is expected to start this year.

The 1,265 hectares port will be developed to hasten the movement of goods for import and export creating an import corridor for Malawi which dominates the Mtwara Port. The goods include sugar, tea, tobacco, coffee, timber and coal.

In its 2005/2006 to 2009/2010 corporate strategic plan, TPA says that most of the ports on the lake, which were taken over by the Authority last year, will be improved as infrastructure is dilapidated.

The Authority’s Director of Planning Jane Kitilya told The EastAfrican that the Mbamba Bay port was on track.

She said most of the ports’ infrastructure was in pretty bad shape, and need urgent repair.

“This will sustain continuous growth of port traffic and cope with technological changes in shipping industry,” she said.

The Mbamba Bay port is located on Lake Nyasa about 170 kilometres from Songea town in Ruvuma region and 70 kilometres from Mbinga town.

It operates as a sub-office under Itungi port.

President Jakaya Kikwete said recently that plans to open up southern regions’ economies to Malawi and Mozambique will be undertaken in a few months’ time along with the completion of the Songea-Mbamba Bay road and construction of a landing jetty.

He said after completion of the road project, the government will build the Mbamba Bay port to a higher status as a southern gateway of Ruvuma.

“Currently, the port is in a bad shape and its handling system was not designed to tap all earnings,” he said.

The Mbamba bay port is one of Tanzania’s 10 inland ports, which is run by the TPA. Others include Mwanza, Bukoba, Kemondo Bay, Musoma, and Nansio, which are on Lake Victoria.

Others are Kigoma, Kasanga, which are on Lake Tanganyika. The other ports are Itungi, Liuli and Mand, on Lake Nyasa.