| TIC sets 360,000ha of land for investors | Send to a friend |
| Thursday, 16 February 2012 22:11 |
 By Bernard LugongoThe Citizen Reporter Dar es Salaam. The Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) has identified 360,000 hectares of land across the country for investment purposes.The TIC acting Director of Investment Promotion, Dr John Mathew, told journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the land has come from institutions and individuals. A big chunk used to belong to the National Service economic wing (SUMA JKT) and Prisons. “We have 200,000 hectares from the two government institutions and 160,000 hectares from individual Tanzanians,” Dr Mathew said. Much of it will be used for investment in agriculture. TIC is scouting for land after establishing that lack of land is one of the major impediments to promoting Tanzania as a prime investment destination. TIC embarked on the exercise following delays in implementing the government’s nationwide project to create a land bank. “The land bank project is still on but it is taking long and we have investors who need land,” he said. “Therefore, we decided to venture out and entered into agreements with these institutions and individuals so as to have land at hand for investment.” Dr Mathew appealed to people who own more than 500 hectares of land to contact the centre and negotiate an agreement on developing the land via investors. He was speaking in Dar es Salaam at a workshop that brought together editors from various media in a brainstorming exercise on the country’s investment agenda. “Before we enter into agreement,” he said, “we gather important facts about the land to satisfy ourselves that it is legally owned.” In another development, the TIC acting Executive Director, Mr Raymond Mbilinyi, said the southern region of Mtwara is well on the way to becoming an economic hub in the next five years. The editors were told that improvements in infrastructure such as roads, ports and reliable electricity had positioned Mtwara and the entire southern region as a high potential zone for further investment. Mr Mbilinyi said: “As we speak, there are a lot of investment activities going on in and around Mtwara. We have a number of international companies conducting oil and gas exploration in the southern part of the country. We also have in the pipeline construction of a big cement factory by a Nigerian investor, Mr Aliko Dangote. When it is completed, it is going to be a major cement producer in the country.” Along with this investment potential, Mtwara now has reliable power from natural gas that will boost production. In the meantime, TIC is also strategising on ways to improve other regions so they can also attract investors. Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Mwanza have been the darlings of local and foreign investors. Policy review is also on the cards, with the possibility of restructuring taxation to attract investors to lesser known regions. “We are sure that once we come up with a good investment policy, we can spread investments to regions with low investments,” he added. But he admitted that poor infrastructure, particularly the railway and roads, had held back efforts to attract more investors into the country. Ms Nakuala Senzia, TIC Director of Investment Facilitation, said lack of proper investment sites was among the major challenges in developing the sector.The TIC Board of Directors chairman, ambassador Elly Mtango, urged journalists to be patriotic and help the country to attract more investors in order to create jobs. Ambassador Mtango, who was the chief guest, said the media had a role to play in motivating investors and educating the public on the importance of investment.“There are a lot of good things the government has done and is still doing,” he said. “If we continue to portray a negative picture of the country, we are helping to scare away potential investors.” For the economy to grow, he said, the people should work hard. But, he argued, they could not do so when there were no jobs. It was important, therefore, that the investment sector creates jobs. Dr Mathew said many domestic investment projects were still unregistered because the people were not aware of the TIC and how they could benefit from its services. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
| Last Updated on Friday, 17 February 2012 23:47 |
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