Lwakatare appointed new CEO of DART

The Minister of State in the President’s Office -- Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG), George Simbachawene yesterday appointed Eng  Ronald Lwakatare   acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit (DART), Agency effective from January 4, this year.

The minister appointed him as stipulated in section 2(2) of the order of the
establishment of DART agency, which was established by the Government Notice Number 120 of 2007 under the Executive Agency Act No 30 of 1997.

 The appointment follows suspension of the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit (DART) executive officer, Asteria Mlambo over procurement irregularities in December 23, 2015.

Before his appointment, Eng Lwakatare was the deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Road Fund Board in-charge of monitoring and assessment.

According to Simbachawene, Eng  Lwakatare is required to report at the new post as soon as possible.

Mlambo was suspended for procurement irregularities regarding the reported dubious process in awarding a tender to an interim service provider of the DART project.

It was reported that the procurement process involved obtaining an interim service provider in the Dart project.

In April, the government through Dart agency signed an agreement with Usafiri Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit Company to help it run the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project as an interim service provider (ISP). 

According to Simbachawene, Mlambo had also failed to take action even after realising  that the ISP violated terms of the contract.

Mlambo, who is also accused of making major decision without involving the Dart advisory board, had been suspended to pave the way for investigations.

On December 23, 2015, Simbachawene said the government was aware that there were some Dart workers, who ill-advised the executive officer, saying action would be taken against them by an acting executive officer to be appointed.

Dart project was aimed at reducing traffic jam and facilitating modern means of transport in the city of Dar es Salaam.

Uda and Dar es Salaam Commuter Bus Owners Association (Darcoboa) established a new company Uda-RT specifically to run the Dart project.

The company entered in April into a two-year agreement with Dart agency in which it was to purchase and run a fleet of 76 modern buses to operate the BRT project in the city.