New JICA Tanzania development support plan for 2015 out

MAUREEN ODUNGA

The Chief Representative of JICA, Mr Toshio Nagase.

THE Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has come up with new lineup in social and economic areas to support the policy priorities expressed by President John Magufuli in the coming year.

Addressing a news conference in Dar es Salaam, the Chief Representative of JICA, Mr Toshio Nagase, pointed out that some of the projects are going on while others are in their preparatory stages for future funding.

“For 2016, JICA plans to support the president’s effort to combat corruption through managing and checking waste of public resources by helping the government to strengthen the internal audit system – through improving productivity in the public and private sectors via kaizen and hospital management projects,” said Mr Toshio.

Other measures include improving tax administration, increasing revenue collection, promoting and strengthening of new and existing transport infrastructure network and mitigating traffic congestion in the city.

“Projects that would be carried out by the agency are the rural road sector programme 1 and 2, the Arusha-Holili section, which is under study, the Central Railway Line, TAZARA intersection grants and Gerezani Road projects, which are earmarked for next year,” Mr Nagase told reporters.

The agency also plans to strengthen agricultural sector development programmes M and E phase 2, TANRICE Phase 2, TANCAID phase 2 and the National Irrigation Master Plan.

Additional projects include the cluster development, project of reinforcement of power system in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania- Kenya Interconnection Transmission Line, which is under study and strengthening of management regional referral hospitals.

Development Assistance Committee, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development statistics show that Japan has been ranked the third largest donor in Tanzania on a net basis in 2013 by 338.43 million US dollars (USD), with USA ranking number one by donating about 734.11 million USD while World Bank (IDA) has taken the second spot with 706.83 million USD.

JICA has added value to various projects throughout 2015 in major sectors such as agriculture, private and industrial sector development, transport and logistics, power and energy, health and governance through local government and public and financial management.

“About 513.8bn/- has been spent in the projects by JICA through the government of Japan to help boost the economy of Tanzania,” affirmed Mr Toshio