INDUSTRY and Trade Minister Dr Abdallah Kigoda denounced unnecessary bureaucracy to which investors were subjected, citing the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Act as among the counterproductive legislations in the country.
“We have to get rid of bureaucracy, we don’t need a single dollar to become a bureaucracy free nation,” Dr Kigoda said during a visit to the Exports Processing Zones Authority (EPZA) in Dar es Salaam.
He said although the government remains open to investors seeking to develop special economic zones under the PPP arrangement, the law demands the open tendering of all projects under the PPP. “Imagine the investors coming with 1 billion US dollarS to develop Bagamoyo SEZ, for instance and you tell them to wait for almost a year to go through the tendering process, no serious investor will tolerate that level of bureaucracy,” Dr Kigoda said, noting that the PPP legislation was not in the interest of Tanzanians.
The minister challenged EPZA to embrace in its operations the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). He commended SMEs for the good job that they do in value addition to the country’s products. “I think the role of SMEs in the economy remains generally undermined, but SMEs are doing a great job to the economy.”
Among the criteria for an investor to qualify for the incentiverich EPZ/SEZ schemes include a minimum capital of 100,000 US dollars (over 150m/-), the amount Dr Kigoda perceives as too huge for small local entrepreneurs, “But, I think our SMEs need EPZ/SEZ incentives more than big investors do.”
Dr Kigoda, who also chairs EPZA board of directors, extolled the authority’s management for their good job, urging them to strive for more, “You are doing well and I urge you to do more, make good, straight forward decisions in the public interest.” EPZA Director General, Dr Adelhelm Meru, in his presentation to the minister and his deputy Gregory Teu, decried limited financial resources that cripple the authority’s efficiency.
He said during this financial year, the parliament approved 113bn/- for EPZA, but to date only 125m/- has been released. Dr Meru said during its six years of operations, EPZA has recorded substantial achievements, with 60 companies already invested 790 million US dollars under the schemes. The companies have created 16,105 direct jobs to Tanzanians, with exports generating 440 million US dollars.
The DG dismissed the general misperception that the EPZ/ SEZ schemes were for foreigners, giving statistics that showed of all the investors, locals constitute 44 per cent while foreigners and joint ventures are 40 and 16 per cent, respectively. The priority sectors are textiles and garments, agro-processing, leather processing and manufacturing of leather products; fish processing; lapidary and wood products.
Meanwhile, PIUS RUGONZIBWA reports that bureaucracy within the President’s Office responsible for Public Service Management is to blame for delays of employment permits of staff in various government institutions. Some of such institutions are the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) and the Fair Competition Commission (FCC), all under the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Minister, Dr Abdallah Kigoda admitted on Tuesday.
It is true we have a serious problem on that area but we can’t do anything until we secure go ahead from the responsible authority. We are still extending communications to that effect,” he said. Dr Kigoda said that shortly after he and his Deputy Mr Gregory Teu paid a visit to the Fair Competition Commission where he was told that shortage of the workforce was one of the major challenges.
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