TZW
According to the UDART’s spokesperson, Mr Deus Bugaywa, the deal was struck after expiry of its two-year contract with the Maxcom Africa. “From today (yesterday) our contract with the Maxcom Africa has come to an end.
From now onwards, fares collection will be done by the state-owned telecommunications company in a bid to improve the system in terms of efficient network,” Mr Bugaywa stated. He further explained that the decision also took into account the aspect of quality services and commercial benefits since TTCL services were cheaper. He was speaking at a press conference in Dar es Salaam.
The UDART is upbeat that the use of the national fibre optic cable by the TTCL would add more quality to the e-ticketing services and thus serve the passengers using the rapid transit buses in the city. “As you are aware, TTCL has improved its network and we are thus sure that by using Continues on Pagethe fibre optic, the standard of our services will go to the next level and thus reduce many challenges,” he said.
The shift from Maxcom to TTCL may cause some inconveniences to the passengers for two to three days from today due to technical factors, but UDART maintained that their services would not be affected. On other hand, he said, UDART would retain at least 190 workers who had been employed by Maxcom Africa Limited at the e-ticketing section of the UDART.
Under the contract signed in 2016 between the two companies, those workers were recruited by the Maxcom Africa Limited but were paid salaries and other benefits by UDART. “All of them will continue with their jobs; we will only provide them new contracts that will make them report to the UDART directly,” he said. Several government institutions have recently shifted their payment services to the egovernment payment gateway ( GePG) with the latest firm being Tanzania Electric Supply Company ( Tanesco).
Other government institutions that have joined the staterun direct payment system recently include the Police Force, Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Water and sanitation authorities, the Ministry of Lands and Human Settlements Development and Business Registration and Licensing Authority ( Brela).
The shift to the government payment system aimed at increasing transparency in all transactions made by the public when seeking services from government institutions