Ambassadors from five member states surrounding Lake Tanganyika Basin have agreed to undertake a joint campaign to mobilise resources to push for the implementation of development programmes in the area.
With a population of over 40 million people and high levels of poverty, vulnerability, persistent conflicts and pollution, the initiative is set to open a new chapter of collective efforts to redress the disappointing situation.
Chairmanof the group of ambassadors based in Belgium – Brussels, Dr Diodorus Kamala, said in a statement recently that there was a compelling need to support Lake Tanganyika Basin development initiatives.
The group comprises ambassadors from Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi and the DRC.
He said the development initiative aimed to implement the Lake Tanganyika Water Sanitation and Environmental Management (LTWASAN) project was initiated by the East African Community (EAC), Comesa, UN-Habitat and the Lake Tanganyika Authority.
“In stepping up the exchange of goods and enhancing passenger traffic, the following ports are to be expanded and the port facilities in Bujumbura, Kigoma, Kasanga, Mpulungu, Moba and Kalemie, Uvira, Kiliba modernised,” reads part of the statement adding,“The purpose of the port development is to increase the safety of passengers, facilitate and accelerate shipping traffic, and to link up all the countries and towns on Lake Tanganyika.”
Dr Kamala said that the group wanted to modernise communications technology in the basin to control shipping traffic, prevent accidents and be able to alert rescue services in an emergency.
As part of the shipping traffic refurbishment and development programme, Dr Kamala said, waste water treatment plants would be built in the ports and standards in existing ones improved.
“At the same time, a waste disposal system is to be set up that will help generate energy from waste.”
He added; “We also want to promote sustainable eco-tourism. The purpose of this type of tourism is to benefit the local population by conveying the unique attractiveness of nature and landscape and at the same time to ensure that livelihoods and the area itself are safeguarded.”
According to the diplomat, the basin is to be connected to traffic systems in the surrounding countries by extending and modernising airports at Mbala, Kalemie, Bujumbura, Kigoma, and Kasanga.
NMG
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