Prof Mbarawa made the directive in Dar es Salaam yesterday after a tour at the three terminals of the country's main gateway for air transport. "It takes more than one hour for foreign passengers to process the visas and this is not healthy considering that some of them have travelled for long distances covering up to 18 hours," the minister noted with concern.
The minister observed firsthand how the arrival lounge at Terminal II was crowded with passengers who were waiting for their entry permits to be processed. An official with the Immigration Department put the blame on the National Microfinance Bank (NMB) for the delays since it had only two bank clerks to receive payments for handing out the visas.
"We have six counters with immigration officers charged with the task but NMB has only two tellers," the official informed the minister. However, Minister Mbarawa urged the responsible parties against trading blames and instead work jointly to address the challenge.
"All responsible parties including the Customs Department, the Immigration Department and the bank should chart out ways of solving the problem", he instructed. The visit by Prof Mbarawa was also a follow-up on directives by President John Magufuli in May, this year, where he instructed that two security scanners at Terminal I which were defective should be fixed. "I have been informed that the machines have been fixed and now operating.
The other issue I was following up was theft of jet fuel which I was told it has been curbed," he explained. On the other hand, Prof Mbarawa was delighted with the ongoing construction of Terminal III at JNIA, expressing optimism that the multi-million project will be completed by December, next year.
"The execution of the project is now at between 42 and 45 per cent, upon completion the new terminal will have the capacity to accommodate 21 planes at once including the largest passenger aircraft Airbus A 380," the minister noted.
The Acting Director General of Tanzania Airports Authority (TAA), Engineer George Sambali, told journalists during the tour that 45 per cent of international air transport traffic from Tanzania is taken by other countries due to lack of modern airport and thriving national carrier.
"We would be able to capture the international traffic once Terminal III is completed and when Air Tanzania is patched-up," he noted. Eng Sambali said plans were underway to upgrade other airstrips in the country to provide links to the JNIA from other countries in the region.
Regarding theft of jet fuel, the official said the airport authority had beefed up security through security camera to monitor movements of people in the airfield.
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