Arusha Technical College (ATC) has started to manufacture spare parts for farm machinery including tractors and power tillers, in addition to producing expert mechanical engineers.
ATC Principal, Dr Richard Masika
The ATC Principal, Dr Richard Masika, said that the college has enough equipment, an ideal workshop and machinery capable of fashioning all metal parts tractors of all models, power tillers and even combine harvesters.
“Soon, we shall also show members of the public the threewheel motorcycle (popularly known here as Bajaj) which our students made from scratch,’’ said Dr Masika, when the college received visitors from the Zanzibar House of Representatives.
Asked whether ATC will be taking over activities that formerly used to be undertaken by the now defunct Kilimanjaro Machine Tools in Moshi, Dr Masika said that the college would rather focus on farm tools and machinery in line with the country’s agriculture promoting initiative.
“We will also be producing spare parts for grain milling machines,” said the ATC Principal. A visit around the college’s workshops revealed a giant Alternator Current synchronizer belonging to Symbion Power Company, which was about to be taken for repairs in India but ATC took the job.
“We are capable of repairing this machine as well as other heavy machinery in the country. There is no need to send equipment abroad for repairs and spend huge sums of money in the process,” said Eng. Masika.
By MARC NKWAME, Tanzania Daily News
