The lawmakers advised the government to put in place all necessary infrastructures to facilitate new investments as well as stimulate growth of the existing industries in the country.
Dodoma. Members of Parliament yesterday expressed mixed feelings over Tanzania’s industrialisation drive when debating budget estimates of the Industry, Trade and Investment ministry.
The lawmakers advised the government to put in place all necessary infrastructures to facilitate new investments as well as stimulate growth of the existing industries in the country.
The MPs also spoke of compensation delays especially in Export Processing Zones Authority areas that were specifically allocated for industrial development.
Mr Hussein Bashe (Nzega Urban-CCM) said the government should prepare plans such as developing the palm farming and tap financing opportunities from within and outside the country.
“We are touting much on establishing industries, but we normally forget the software part of the industries, which is creating conducive environment for competitive production,” said Mr Bashe, who was also concerned with Tanzania’s ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business.
Ms Mariam Ditopile (Special Seats-CCM) went further and asked the government to lower taxes imposed on the existing industries. “I am very optimistic about industrialisation, but we should also protect the existing ones by reducing the tax burdens,” she said.
Ms Lolensia Bukwimba (Busanda-CCM) said the government should work hard to prepare industrial skills as well as producing enough and reliable electricity.
For her part, Ms Devotha Minja (Special Seats-Chadema) was alarmed that there are investors who bought factories in Morogoro during privatisation and used the plants and their premises as collateral instead of developing them.
“We are looking for new industries and forget that we have failed to develop the existing ones. And again, what kind of industries are we promoting while our infrastructures are poor?” she said.
On the other hand, the minister for Energy Dr Medard Kalemani allayed fears of power shortage saying that the government plans to increase power generation to 5,000 megawatts by 2020 and 10,000 megawatts by 2025.
