Tanzania, China pursue new chapter in SOE cooperation

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Mwananchi Communications Limited

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania and China are seeking to deepen cooperation between their State-owned enterprises (SOEs), with Tanzania looking to draw on China’s experience in public asset management, enterprise reforms and performance improvement.

The initiative is being led by the Office of the Treasury Registrar, which is finalising two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) and the China Enterprise Reform and Development Society (CERDS).

Speaking on Wednesday during a bilateral meeting in Dar es Salaam, Treasury Registrar Nehemiah Mchechu said the cooperation would initially involve selected institutions, including Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL), Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC).

“In our cooperation, we will start by selecting a few pilot institutions, including ATCL, TPA and TRC,” he said.

Mr Mchechu said the agreements would provide a framework for cooperation in research, capacity building, policy, governance reforms and performance assessment. He said Tanzania also wanted to learn from China’s experience in managing government assets, reforming public enterprises on market-oriented principles and improving the efficiency of government capital.

The Office of the Treasury Registrar currently oversees 308 public institutions, including 252 in which the Government holds majority shares and 56 where it has minority stakes.

CERDS President Peng Huagang said China’s experience showed that State-owned enterprises could operate on market-oriented principles while maintaining their strategic responsibilities.

“The essence of public enterprise reform is to make them stronger, better and world-class enterprises operated on market-oriented principles,” he said.

Mr Peng said reforms should improve competitiveness and efficiency while ensuring public assets were protected and their value increased without undermining management autonomy.

He identified the revitalisation of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (Tazara) and expansion of the Port of Dar es Salaam as areas that could support economic activity by linking transport corridors with mining, agriculture, manufacturing and other sectors.

Acting TPA Director General Boniphace Nobeji said the authority was interested in working with Chinese counterparts on port efficiency, technology transfer, capacity building and dry-port development.

TRC Director General Machibya Shiwa identified freight terminals, private freight operations, industrial clusters around railway stations and integrated freight centres as potential areas of cooperation.

In aviation, ATCL Acting Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer John Nzunda identified air cargo, aircraft maintenance and engineering, digital technology, fuel management and specialised training as areas for cooperation.

CCECC East Africa Ltd Chief Executive Officer Lu Haiqiang said the company was ready to work with Tanzanian public enterprises in infrastructure, engineering, construction and operations.

The meeting brought together officials from Office of the Treasury Registrar, SASAC, CERDS, TPA, TRC and ATCL, as well as Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian.