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Tanzania to allocate more land for investments: minister

Xinhua, December 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

A Tanzanian cabinet minister said Friday the government planned to allocate huge areas of land for new investments as part of its industrialization drive.

Charles Mwijage, the East African nation's Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, said newly earmarked land will be operated under special economic zones and will be overseen by the Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA) and district authorities.

"The government has already identified areas for new investments across the country," Mwijage told Xinhua in a phone interview.

He mentioned the identified areas for new investments as Mkuranga and Kibaha districts in Coast region, Morogoro, Songea, Kigoma, Bunda, Kagera, Kilimanjaro and Tanga.

The minister was responding to a request for investment land made recently by Tanzania Tooku Garments Company Ltd, a Chinese textile manufacturing firm operating in the Benjamin William Mkapa Special Economic Zone in Dar es Salaam.

William Tai, general manager of the company, on Monday told a delegation of Tanzanian and Chinese journalists that the firm "wanted to move its massive production from China to Tanzania."

Speaking shortly after he was sworn in as Tanzania's fifth President on November 5, last year, President John Magufuli said industrialization was the main agenda for his government.

He said the major thrust of his government was to build an industry-driven economy that will propel the east African country, the second largest economy in the region, to a middle income status by 2025.

Statistics by the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) indicate that the country has recorded good performance in attracting investors.

Between December 2015 and May 2016, TIC registered 551 investment projects. Of all these projects, 229 are owned by Tanzanians, 215 projects are foreign-owned while 107 projects are joint ventures.

The projects were expected to employ 55,970 Tanzanians. Endit