Mwijage: Buy local goods to propel industrial agenda

DAILY NEWS Reporter

LOCAL industries will grow, create employment and eventually contribute to the country’s economic growth if Tan zanians buy locally produced goods, the government has emphasised.

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Charles Mwijage (pictured), spoke on the need for the general public to change its mindset in favour of locally produced goods.

He voiced the sentiments at the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) offices in Dar es Salaam recently, during World Accreditation Day commemorations, under the theme ‘Delivering confidence in construction and the built environment’.

“The speed at which industries are being established is high, and those who think this resolve does not match with the government strategy to spur economic growth are absolutely wrong,” Mr Mwijage said.

He added: “The only problem that is disturbing me is how to protect these local industries. Previously, we spent a huge chunk of foreign currency to import goods. TBS must help us to protect our industries by keeping an eye open on fake and substandard products from outside the country.”

The minister said if TBS controlled the inflow of products from outside the country, including keeping its eyes open on imported fake and substandard goods, local industries would grow, create employment opportunities, increase government revenue and eventually contribute to the country’s economic growth.

The minister said cement production had multiplied, adding that with the establishment of ceramic industries, the public would no longer face hassles of importing tiles. The minister asked TBS officials to take measures to ensure construction materials were up to standard, a major challenge facing construction industry to-date.

“Since the construction sec tor is growing at a fast speed, you, TBS officials, must ask yourself whether the buildings are safe for people to live in,” he said, explaining that construction always began with the quality of building materials.

On her part, Ms Agnes Mneney, the TBS Director of Testing, Calibration and Packaging Services, said it was important for building materials to be subjected to rigorous testing, considering that the construction sector was growing.

“Today we see high-rise buildings that accommodate a huge number of people being built. It is important to take into consideration the safety of people who build them, those will live or work in them, as well as passersby,” she said.

According to Ms Mneney, construction materials must undergo rigorous testing by TBS and pass all accreditation processes for use by the public. The industrial sector contributes around 25 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Tanzania aims to become a semi-industrialised country by 2025. In order for the country to become a semi-industrialised country, the contribution of manufacturing to the national economy must reach a minimum of 40 per cent of country’s GDP.

Achieving this goal entails transformation from natural resource exploitation activities and extractive industries (agriculture, tourism and mining) to becoming an economy with a broad and diverse base of manufacturing, processing and packaging industries that will lead both the productive as well as the export trade sector.