Zanzibar will build improved ship

after marine ferry disasters

MOTIVATED BY PUBLIC PRESSURE, PRESIDENT OF ZANZIBAR ORDERED
THE IMMEDIATE PURCHASE OF A NEW SHIP AFTER TWO MAJOR FERRY
ACCIDENTS, IN WHICH SEVERAL HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES 

ZANZIBAR (Xinhua) -- After two major ferry tragedies off Zanzibar since last September, the government of Tanzania’s semi-autonomous region has asked shipbuilding company Lloyd to design a new ship, a senior official said Monday.

As chairman of a committee established to monitor the purchase of the vessel, Zanzibar’s Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Omar Yusuf Mzee made the remarks regarding the issue.

“The government is in great effort in speeding the strategy for the construction of the ship after instructing Lloyd Company to lay out the designs of the vessel,” he said.

Mzee said the government has allowed the shipbuilding company to design the specifications as it was the same designer of the MV Mapinduzi.


It would take 12 to 18 months to build the vessel, which would have a capacity of more than 1,000 passengers and 300 tons of cargo, and would operate between Zanzibar, Pemba, Dar es Salaam, Mtwara and Comoro, the minister said.

“The ship will cost no less than 12 million U.S. dollars, and the government has already held talks with the government of China, South Korea and Japan for further assistance for the venture,” he said, asking the public to be more patient while the vessel is under construction.

The minister has said recently that the government had collected more than 17 billion Tanzanian shillings (about 11 million U.S. dollars) from its 2012/13 budget for the construction of a new ship.

Motivated by public pressure, President of Zanzibar Ali Mohammed Shein ordered the immediate purchase of a new ship after two major ferry accidents, in which several hundreds of people lost their lives.

In the ferry sinking accident last September, more than 200 people died when MV Spice Islander sank at Nungwi Channel while on its way from Pemba to Zanzibar. And the second took place on 18 July this year when MV Stagit capsized near Zanzibar’s coast, resulting the death of more than 128 people.

Source: Coastweek