Workers protested at the head offices of the state-owned Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC) in Dar es Salaam on October 1 as the new strategic investor officially took over the management of its operations. They made a spirited but unsuccessful attempt to block the facility’s long-awaited official handover. The old corporation, whose condition was described in the Guardian as being generally regarded as pathetic, was finally handed over to the new ‘Tanzania Railway Ltd as (TRL)’ – a firm set up jointly by the Government of Tanzania (49%) and Rites Company Ltd of India (51%). The latter operates as a wing of the Government of India. Speaking at the handing-over ceremony, Infrastructure Development Minister Andrew Chenge said that the TRL would increase the newlook facility’s capacity to handle cargo and expand the country’s trade and business with neighbouring countries like Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia.

TRL Managing Director Narasimhaswami Jayaram meanwhile said the expected development of the Central and Tanga-Arusha lines and the resumption of six-a-week passenger train services would be given special attention. The signing ceremony was initially scheduled for last year but it was postponed for months after the investment partners – the government, Rites Ltd and the International France Corporation – differed on the terms and modalities of the agreement. A total of 3,204 TRC employees have been lined up for retrenchment while another 3,286 will be absorbed by TRL The Government has asked for a TShs 45 billion loan from the World Bank for rehabilitation of TRC – Guardian`

New Air Tanzania advert

The national flag carrier, Air Tanzania Company (ATC) has relaunched its brand identity with a new logo to ‘represent the country’s character and aspirations’. Speaking at the launch, at the beginning of October Managing Director David Mattaka said they had reverted to the previous brand after the government had succeeded in its efforts to return the company into the hands of Tanzanians. For a number of years it had been operating in a partnership with South African Airways.

The new brand was designed to represent the company’s name, Mount Kilimanjaro and the airline’s international destinations. ATC is now online throughout the network and will soon scrap the use of paper tickets. It would depend mostly on hired planes because getting new planes took too much time – anything from five to seven years – Guardian.
New advert for Air Tanzania