Parliament team tells government to act on iron, coal projects

Business journalist

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There have been twists and turns in the implementation of the projects, which only means delaying Tanzanians from benefitting from the multibillion investments

Dar es Salaam. The Parliamentary Public Investment Committee (PIC) has urged the government to expedite talks with investors on the Liganga and Mchuchuma projects.
Presenting the committee’s report covering 2020/21 financial year, the committee chairman Jerry Silaa (pictured), said it is high time the government stopped discussing the projects and instead start walking the talk.
In September 2011, China’s Sichuan Hongda Co Ltd signed a $3 billion deal with Tanzania to mine coal and iron ore in the country.
The investment involves construction of the Mchuchuma coal mine, a 220kv transmission line between Mchuchuma and Liganga for supplying the Liganga Metallurgical Complex, and an accompanying 600-megawatt (MW) thermal power station.
“The discussion between investors and the government through the Government Negotiation Team (GNT) committee has taken so long, this is unacceptable,” said Mr Silaa.
He went on saying: “The negotiation should be concluded now otherwise we are delaying to enjoy the projects’ benefits.”
He said given the fact that the committee had a new management, it was meaningless to delay talks with the investors.

Alternately, Mr Silaa added, the talks should be shifted to the National Development Corporation (NDC) with a view to doing away with red tape.
The committee said absence of board of directors and interference among institutions when it comes to executing their duties, capital crunch, and Non-Performing Loans (NPLs), were to blame for inefficiencies of some public institutions.
It also pointed an accusing finger at delays in the issuance of employment permits.
The committee suggested that the government has to ensure that members of the board of directors for public organisations are appointed in time. This recommendation was in the wake of the fact that several public institutions lacked a board of directors and thus affecting their performance.
The institutions also are grappling with challenges of accessing permit to allow them recruit new employees. This, in turn was affecting the efficiency of the public investment capital because of lacking the right employees.
As a matter of fact, the committee recommended that the government should grant power to commercial public organisations to employ without seeking a permit.
Commenting on the matter, Mr Augustine Holle (Kasulu Rural-CCM) said delays in appointing the board of directors was “cancer” to the public institutions.
“It is awkward for the institution to operate without a board of director for up to three years . Does this mean we don’t have people with qualifications to work in those boards,” said Mr Holle.
Ms Munde Tambwe (Special Seats-CCM) said: “It is dangerous for the institutions to operate without the board of directors. We need to act now.”
On the Tanzania National Roads Agency’s (Tanroads) interference of the Tanzania Airports Authority (TAA) duties of constructing airports, the Works and Transport minister, Prof Makame Mbarawa, said the government was already in the process to take back the responsibility to where it belonged way back before 2017.
“From now on, all new airports in the pipeline will be constructed by TAA, except for those whose construction has already kicked off,” said Prof Mbarawa.