The merchants wanted to transport goods faster and easier, and the colonial administration hoped to regulate the flow of traffic throughout the city by restricting it to officially approved tram lines.

In the long run, this exposed the rails to much greater wear and tear, but the Colonial Administration lacked the money that would have been needed to complete a track network embedded in concrete.

[1] In 1938, the tram was in a "deplorable state": the rails and sleepers were already broken in many places, but the Colonial Administration lacked the means to lay new, heavier tracks that could have handled the volume of transport.

It feared that without the tram lines, traders would drive their handcars in all directions, goods would escape customs clearance and the thefts would increase.

Out of fear of such chaos, the Colonial Administration decided to maintain the tram lines and raise additional money by registering and inspecting the wagons.