EPZ set to vitalise industrial drive

ANNE ROBI

PLANS are underway to set up 190 industries at Bagamoyo Economic Special Zone before 2020, Industry, Trade and Investment Minister, Charles Mwijage said yesterday.

The Industries, according to the minister, will include fertiliser and fish processing plants at the 100 square kilometer Bagamoyo Economic Zone. Mr Mwijage made the revelation in Dar es Salaam yesterday while officiating at the Symposium on Belt and Road Initiative between Tanzania and China.

“The discussion to implement the initiative is going on between Oman, China and Tanzania,” he said, adding that the setting up of the industries will go in line with the building up of modern mega port at Bagamoyo.

The modern Port will open up an entrance for modernised vessels for transporting finished goods from the industries to be set at the zone. “Through this project, we are expecting Tanzanians to benefit from employment and other economic benefits which will come with the project,” he said.

In line with that, Mr Mwijage said that the government plans more economic special zones along the Standard Gauge Railway Line (SGR) in order to ease and fast track the supply of finished goods in and outside the country as the nation heads and achieves its mission of making Tanzania an industrial country come 2025.

“We are planning to have EPZs along the SGR. They (EPZs) will include industries for processing various edible goods, including milk, and the aim is to enable easy tracking and supply of finished goods,” he said.

Speaking during the conference, the Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam, Prof Liu Yan said that the symposium’s objectives include, among other things, to discuss possible ways of making the relationship between China and Tanzania of mutual benefits through economic growth.

Vice Chancellor of the University of Dar es Salaam, Prof Rwekaza Mukandala said that the symposium is an opportunity for Tanzanians to make significant contributions in the business and economic development through industrial development.

“By organising this conference, China through the Confucius Institute continues to prove its relevance through acting as a platform for socioeconomic exchanges and collaborations between China and Tanzania,” he said.