Management of Urban Transport Services in Major Cities

The audit assessed the efficiency and effectiveness of the Prime Minister’s Office - Regional Administration and Local Government (PMO–RALG) and the Ministry of Transport (MoT) in managing public transport services to ensure accessible, reliable, and sustainable quality transport services in major cities.

The audit found inconsistencies between national and local urban transport policies, causing delayed approvals, fragmented implementation, TZS 102.4 billion in land compensation costs, and incomplete projects such as BRT expansion and multimodal hubs. Public transport was largely inaccessible, unreliable, and unaffordable due to exclusionary infrastructure, insufficient BRT buses (65 of 305), long waiting times of up to 121 minutes, and fare overcharging of 50–100%. It also identified overlapping mandates, weak coordination and regulation, underutilised infrastructure resulting in a BRT deficit of TZS 180.7 billion, poor congestion management, and the absence of a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation framework.

The audit recommended coordinated reforms by the MoT, PMO–RALG, and LATRA to clarify mandates, designate a lead urban transport agency, and implement an integrated urban transport policy. It also recommended aligning transport planning with city master plans and national strategies, establishing a National Urban Transport Agency, integrating e-ticketing and multimodal services, formalising operators, and strengthening regulatory oversight to improve efficiency, accountability, and service delivery.