Sh100bn grant from China boost for TZ

Dar es Salaam. The government has received a grant of Sh97 billion from China in support of development of education, seaports, health and airline security.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Charles Mwijage and the deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Ms Dorothy Mwanyika signed the document on behalf of the Government of Tanzania while China was represented by its Vice Minister for Commerce, Mr Qian Keming.

Speaking at the event, Mr Mwijage said the grant has come at the right time when the country was facing a shortage of medical supplies.

“A few weeks ago, the media reported about shortage of drugs in the country so this grant will greatly help to improve the situation in the health sector” he said.

He said government experts and their Chinese counterparts were also discussing the possibility for China to invest in the Tanzania Zambia Railways (Tazara), Zanzibar Airport as well as in the development of a new seaport that will be receiving several containers in Zanzibar.

According to Mr Mwijage, China has agreed in principle to support Tanzania’s industrialization goal as outlined in the Second Five Year Development Plan that stretches through financial years 2016/2017 to 2020/2021.

China will also help in construction of three processing factories of which one will be at Mlandizi while two will be at Mkuranga Coast Region.

“Currently, we are seeking to acquire 700 hectares of land on which China will build a special economic zone where textiles will be processed by next year. With this project, we plan to create about 14,000 jobs and produce about 224 million kilometres of processed cotton each year,” he said.

When that is done, Tanzania will officially ban importation of second hand clothes by the year 2019 as processed cotton will be turned into clothes locally.

In his remarks, Mr Keming admitted that his country will do everything possible to help Tanzania in the latter’s industrialisation drive.