PPF, Prisons Department to revamp shoe, leather factory
The director general of PPF Pensions Fund, Mr William Erio (left), and Prisons Commissioner General John Minja display the investment contracts that will see them cooperating in building a shoe factory at Karanga Prison in Moshi. The signing ceremony was held at headquarters in Dar es Salaam earlier this week. PHOTO | COURTESY OF PPF
What you need to know:
- It will become a state of the art one which will also process leather and produce leather products.
Dar es Salaam. The PPF Pensions Fund and the Prisons Department – through its Prisons Corporation Sole - have signed a deal that will see them cooperating in revamping the shoe and leather products’ factory at Karanga Prison in Moshi, Kilimanjaro Region.
In the agreement – signed on Tuesday this week by the PPF director general, Mr William Erio, and the commissioner general for the Prison Services, Mr John Minja – the two institutions envision building a completely new factory and improving the existing one.
It will become a state of the art one which will also process leather and produce leather products.
Modern machineries – that use new technologies - will be installed.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam earlier this week, Mr Erio said that the construction of the factory is in line with the government’s plans to turn Tanzania into an industrialized country.
The factory, he said, will be using locally sourced raw materials, thereby saving the country of its much-needed foreign exchange earnings which would otherwise be spent on importing raw materials and finished shoe and leather products.
“We expect the factory to be completed and start production by 2018 while at the same time construction of the new factory continues the old one will be improved to increase its production…in the process, we will be creating jobs for Tanzanians,” said Mr Erio in a statement that was e-mailed to The Citizen yesterday.
Both parties stand to benefit from the venture.
According to Mr Minja, apart from its collaboration with PPF, the Prisons Service was looking up to other investment avenues in areas of minerals and buildings in Dodoma.
He called upon PPF and other institutional and individual investors to tap into the opportunities especially during this period that the government was shifting to Dodoma.
