The Dar Es Salaam Bajaj Experience.

On By Shaaban Fundi, Ph.D.In Education

I am here in Dar for a few days. The rain is coming down every other hour and on the hour. The potholes are filled with greenish and/or yellowish colored water with brownish intonation to signify how long the water has been in those holes. The swarming mosquitoes are everywhere. No wonder, with all this stagnant water around, what else could happen? cholera?

The traffic is just horrendous. It is pitty that unplanned development is showing its colors here. The roads of the 70s are supposed to consume the increased motor-cars ownership in Dar. The population has exploded over the years, the so- called middle class is booming and along with it comes car ownership. The only thing that is lagging behind is roads….and I mean lack of roads and maintenance of the few roads that are available.

So…here comes my experience with Bajajis. Great invention from the country called India. Just me guessing from the name Bajaj. I have no idea which country is actually making them. It could be Bangladesh for all I care.

Today, I found myself in Mbezi beach around 11.00am and wanted to go to the airport. The one way trip took me literary two and a half hours. I lost 6 f**cken hrs of my vacation time on Dar Es salaam roads today. I am just gonna call call them parking lots. Yeah, this is development in my Nyamwezi behind.

It is a serious problem. People lose many hours going to work and coming home from work. In addition, the pricey gas that is wasted everyday on those roads/parking lots and the air pollution it is causing. How much money and hours are wasted everyday, every week, every month and every year?

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5 thoughts on “The Dar Es Salaam Bajaj Experience.”

  2. Smart urban planning costs a lot. But all the wasted fuel, pollution, and lost hours of productivity stuck in jam are probably just as costly. Where’s the leadership?

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  3. Thanks for the comments Marcossy, I was not expecting the same but a little better than what I have seen. Don’t you see it is a problem? It takes 2 hours and sometimes more from Mbezi to Posta. What about the time wasted? fuel wasted?
    I do not think that blaming our absence will help anything. Lets just call a spade a spade and not indulge ourselves in condoning the situation. It is terrible if you have to wake up 4am in the morning to reach to your work on time. And you won’t get home to see ya kids and wife until 9pm. Is that not a problem to you? Do you think if i was here the roads would have been built?

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  5. Marcossy

    what else wd you expect? Is it right for you wwallowing in USA to come back expecting WE have built you the highways you just saw out there? You must sweat here to earn a little for ya kids and yaself.

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