Quality Group, Indian firm to inject Sh100bn in tractor assembling project
President of International Tractors Ltd, Gaurav Saxena (left) exchanging documents with Quality Group Group Ltd’s chief operating officer Konstantinos Vasileiadis in Dar es Salaam today after signed a Sh100 billion deal to build tractor assembling plant in Morogoro.PHOTO|SAID KHAMIS
What you need to know:
- The companies are currently working on various approvals from the government before the project officially kicks off.
Dar es Salaam. The Dar es Salaam-based Quality Group and an Indian company called International Tractors Limited, today signed a deal that will see them cooperating in settling up a Sh100 billion tractor assembling plant in Morogoro.
The companies are currently working on various approvals from the government before the project officially kicks off.
“We are currently working on approvals from the government and with speed that President John Magufuli’s administration works on investors’ needs, we hope to start soon since the funds are there,” Quality Group marketing manager, Mr Timothy Shuma said in Dar es Salaam yesterday shortly after top officials from the two companies signed the agreement.
At the signing ceremony, Quality Group was represented by chief operations officer for Tanzania’s Quality Group, Mr Konstantinos Vasileiadis while the Punjab-based International Tractors Ltd was represented by its President, Mr Guarav Saxena.
Initiated in 1996, International Tractors Limited develops, manufactures, and markets tractors for the farming community. It has a capacity of assembling 150,000 units per annum and it specifically offers garden utility, and agriculture tractors disc harrows, cultivators, disc ploughs, and MB ploughs. Its Sonalika Group boasts of a customer base of 700,000 clients across 82 countries.
According to Mr Shuma the demand for tractors in Tanzania currently stands at 5000 per year while the country is only capable of importing 800 tractors annually.
“With the new firm, an additional 1000 tractors will be assembled here in the country every year. We understand that a majority of the farmers are smallholders and that is why the signing of this joint venture has targeted the farmers arranged in groups. They will be able to buy one tractor and use it in their groups such as Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies,” he said.
By assembling tractors locally, farmers will also be able to reduce some costs that they incur when importing the products.
Mr Saxena was hopeful that apart from employing over 1,200 Tanzanians directly, the company will also boost productivity in the agricultural sector.
