EU Gives $41m for Zanzibar Port Repairs
 

The EU will not hesitate to halt the disbursement of funds if any political unrest erupts in Zanzibar

By JOSEPH MWAMUNYANGE
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

THE EUROPEAN Union has provided financial assistance of $41 million for the reconstruction of the dilapidated Zanzibar port, while asking the Isles government to maintain peace and stability.

The deal was signed in Dar es Salaam last week by the acting head of delegation of the European Union in Dar es Salaam, Anthony Knott, and the Permanent Secretary in Tanzania's Ministry of Finance, Gray S. Mgonja.

Mr Knott said that funding of reconstruction was important because it reinforced the EU’s commitment to support Tanzania's national transport policy of improving access to local, regional and international markets.

"You are all aware that the Malindi port in Zanzibar acts as the main gateway for cargo to and from the Isles," said Mr Knott. "Hence its safety and its ability to operate to the highest standards of efficiency are of the utmost importance to the economic development of Zanzibar."

However, Mr Knott cautioned that the EU would not hesitate to halt the disbursement of the funds if any political unrest erupts in Zanzibar. "By next October, the contractor will be in the middle of construction of the new wharves and throughput of the Zanzibar port will be below its normal capacity. If there were to be any civil unrest during this period, it might lead to an interruption or even cessation of the construction work. You can imagine what a catastrophe it would be for Zanzibar if it was left without a fully functioning port."

The EU official was alluding to the bloody riots that took place in Zanzibar before and immediately after the 2000 general election. The clashes between the police and supporters of the opposition the Civic United Front (CUF) led to the deaths of 31 people on the island of Pemba and some 2,000 people fleeing to Mombasa in Kenya. All except 100 have since returned to the Isles. 

The EU had at one point suspended funding for the rehabilitation of the port because of that political impasse that arose out of the botched first multiparty elections in 1995.

Referring to the defects in the work by the original contractor for the Zanzibar port, Mr Knott said that the financing agreement signed between the EU and the Tanzania was important because "it enables rectification of a situation that had gone wrong in the past. Defects in the work carried out by the previous contractor had resulted in serious deterioration of the wharf structures." He added, "The damage was progressively getting worse and hampering port operations to the extent that part of the wharves had to be closed down. If left untouched, the wharves will certainly collapse."

Mr Knott also said that the arbitration proceedings against the original contractor were at an advanced stage. The Zanzibar Minister for Communications and Transport, Adam Mwakanjuki, said in Zanzibar on October 20 that the adjudicators from the International Centre for Arbitration in Paris, France, were expected to arrive in Zanzibar this month to verify claims by the Zanzibar government that the contractor who built Malindi port 11 years ago, did substandard work.

Mr Mwakanjuki said that Arbitrators were coming to ascertain the validity and grounds of Zanzibar's claims against the Italian contractor, Cogefar.

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