Why projects face risks as minister tables new budget

What you need to know:

The government said yesterday that the implementation of development projects for the next financial year could be affected by 11 major issues, calling for joint efforts with the private sector to mitigate the risks.

Dar es Salaam. The government said yesterday that the implementation of development projects for the next financial year could be affected by 11 major issues, calling for joint efforts with the private sector to mitigate the risks. 

Some of the priority activities to be executed in the 2020/21 financial year are enabling environment for doing business and investment as well as industries to foster economic growth and industrialisation.

Speaking in Parliament as he was presenting a report on the state of the national economy for the year 2019 and development plan for the 2020/21, Finance and Planning minister Philip Mpango grouped the factors into internal and external ones.

The internal risks include inadequate participation of the private sector in priority areas and availability of financial resources for the implementation of development projects. Others are corruption, long processes of acquiring and transferring of land ownership in the projects areas and land conflicts, a poor data collection system and reporting, environmental degradation and cybercrimes.

The external risks involve a slowdown of economic activities, which include loss of human resources as a result of coronavirus, which is affecting the globe, climate change, technological change; and political instabilities in neighbouring countries, regionally and globally.  

“To mitigate the risks, the government will take various initiatives that include facilitating private sector engagement in the implementation of projects through Public Private Partnership window,” said Dr Mpango. Other efforts include continuing to identify investment areas with title deeds and supportive infrastructure, increasing internal revenue collection by improving preparations of projects and speeding up formalisation of the informal sector in order to widen the revenue base. Also on the list are establishing value addition industries in order to increase exports of goods and improve foreign reserves, development of national projects databank and corruption crackdown.

The government is also committed to encouraging proper land use including eco-friendly agriculture and strengthening management and control of government electronic systems.