AT least four projects in the mining sector have failed to take off on time due to poor infrastructure, the Acting Commissioner for Minerals in the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, Mr Ally Samaje has said.
He said poor infrastructure and reliable power sources are among major challenges that hinder the implementation of the said projects.
According to Mr Samaje, it has been difficult for some projects to take off due to high operation costs, which are caused by poor infrastructure. “To implement Kabanga Nickel project, the company needs modern and strong roads to transport minerals to Dar es Salaam, there is also a plan to construct a railway line to Kahama, but all these need time and resources,” he said.
He added Burundi is also planning to produce Nickel and it depends on Tanzania infrastructure to transport the minerals to Dar es Salaam port. Mr Samaje added that electricity is another challenging factor for the companies to take off.
“These companies need reliable electricity, the uses of generators is very expensive and therefore they cannot manage to do profitable businesses,” he said.
However, Mr Samaje said multi-Sectoral efforts are being applied to solve the challenges and that so far the government through the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication is already setting plans to construct central line standard gauge railway line.
He added that the government also through the Ministry of Energy and Minerals is also doing everything in its power to connect electricity to various areas in the country including new mining projects sites. Earlier, the Chairman of Tanzania Chamber of Energy and Minerals, Mr Ami Mpungwe said the mining sector has been significantly recording good contribution to the national economy.
He said in 2015 the mining sector contributed 4 percent to the GDP and was ranked the highest in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country. According to Mr Mpungwe, the sector is committed to contribute to the country’s economic growth.
“I want to ensure the public that mining sector is committed and focusing at building up the country’s economy,” he said.
The Tanzania Investment Centre Acting Executive Director, Mr Clifford Tandari said the forum has brought together Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) from various companies across the globe. He said his office expects to register more investors after the forum since it has helped to open up investment opportunities to various investors in the World.
“Tanzania is very stable and peaceful, we expect more investors to register businesses in the country after this forum, this will also help to increase employment to Tanzanians,” he said.
He said so far 95 per cent of employees in the mining sector are Tanzanians.
No comments :
Post a Comment