Bunge team warns govt

Dodoma. A parliamentary committee has warned that poor disbursement of project funds was undermining and slowing down the industrialisation plan by the government.

Parliament yesterday heard that only about 10 per cent of all the funds allocated to the ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment for this financial year had been released by March.

Industry, Trade and Investment committee chairman Suleiman Sadiq who presented the oversight report on the ministry said they were deeply concerned that the slow disbursement of budgeted funds was threatening smooth implementation of the industrialization drive.

Mr Sadiq said the committee has found out that until March this year only Sh8 billion had been released by the Treasury out of the Sh80.11 billion budgeted for development projects.

The failure to disburse funds for industrialisation on time seems to be worsening. In the financial year 2016/17 the government disbursed only 19 per cent of the money by April. About 90 per cent of the development funds in the ministry come from domestic revenue sources.

“We urge the government to release all the funds for development projects by June 30 this year,” Mr Sadiq who is the MP for Mvomero appealed.

Overall, the ministry had by March this year received Sh37.4 billion out of the Sh122.2 billion budgeted for its activities in the 2017/18 financial.

Planned projects that were affected include the development of special economic zones in Kigoma, Ruvuma, Bagamoyo, Manyoni and Kurasini, jointly expected to receive some Sh26.5 billion, equivalent to 36.2 per cent of the whole development budget for the ministry.

Others include building the Tamco industrial area in Kibaha (Sh12.9 billion), development of the hides industries’ clusters in Dodoma Region (Sh10.5 billion), research and development (Sh6.5 billion) and facilitation of the growth of small and medium industries, small businesses and promoting entrepreneurship (Sh14.1 billion).

Tabling the Industry, Trade and Investment budget earlier yesterday, Mr Charles Mwijage asked Parliament to allocate his ministry Sh143.3 billion for the financial year 2018/19.

The minister said out of the amount requested, Sh100.02 billion would finance 11 key development projects during the new fiscal year. Mwijage listed some of these projects as Mchuchuma and Liganga coal fields (Sh10bn), the Engaruka Soda Ash project (Sh2bn); General Tyre (Sh200m) while the Tanga, Kigoma, Ruvuma and Bagamoyo special economic zones will be allocate a total of Sh22.71 billion.

Mr Mwijage also asked the parliament to allocate Sh10 billion for industrial research and development and Sh2 billion to construct laboratories for the Tanzania Bureau of Standards.

Meanwhile, former minister Andrew Chenge said it was self-defeating if planned projects took too long to come through, giving the example of Mchuchuma and Liganga Iron ore plant, which has stagnated since 2011 even after a deal was entered into with some Chinese investors.

“We cannot move on in this manner if we want to succeed. Let the minister tell Parliament what the problem is with the investor so that we can address the huddles and move forward,” he said.