THE government has officially submitted its letter of approval for the Bagamoyo Special Economic Zone venture to China Merchants Port, agreeing and accepting the investor’s comprehensive project proposal.
The Tanzania Ambassador to China, Mr
Mbelwa Kairuki, submitted, on behalf of the government, the letter from
the Prime Minister’s Office to China Merchants Port Managing Director,
Bai Jingtao, on the 10th of November, 2017.
According to information from Ambassador
Kairuki , the letter from the Prime Minister’s Office to China
Merchants Ports was a reply to the investor’s project proposal after the
approval by the Cabinet meeting.
“With the approval by the Cabinet
meeting, the Tanzanian government formally agreed and accepted the
comprehensive proposal submitted by the China Merchants Port and the
Oman Sovereign Fund on March 31, this year,” the Ambassador said. Having
subm i t t e d the letter, Mr Bai thanked Ambassador Kairuki for his
personal visit to Shenzhen City in China -- the headquarters of the
company, and thanked the Tanzanian Government for its high attention and
full support for the Bagamoyo project.
China Merchants Port will work with Oman
partners to promote the Bagamoyo Special Economic Zone project. The
approval by the government represents a breakthrough in the Bagamoyo
project.
Economists believe that the project will
be of great significance to Tanzania, through relying leton the new
port of Bagamoyo and drawing on the development model of the ‘front
portcentral- back city’ of the China Merchants Bureau to promote the
construction of the park, stimulating economic growth, promoting
employment, and promoting an industrialization drive.
The BSEZ project will further improve
the overseas layout of China Merchants Port. Ambassador Kairuki
expressed his gratitude for the participation of China Merchants Port in
the Bagamoyo project, hoping that they will work with the Oman
Sovereign Fund to advance the project. He assured the potential
investors of government commitment to fully support smooth
implementation of the project.
Other China Merchants Port leaders who
witnessed the submission of the approval letter by Ambassador Kairuki
include Mr Lu Yongxin, Deputy General Manager of China Merchants Port,
Jiang Luning, Director of Overseas Business and Mr Lu Wenjuan, General
Manager of the Board of Directors.
Last month, a delegation of reporters
under the support of Tanzanian Embassy in China, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of China and Exim Bank made a study tour of the second largest
economy in the world where they also visited the headquarters of China
Merchants Group in Shenzhen.
While in Shenzhen, China Merchants Port
Holdings Company Limited Director for Overseas Investments, Dr Moosa Mao
told reporters that the project would bring enormous economic benefits
to the country, including multiplying almost tenfold the GDP per capita
income of Bagamoyo residents and tapping the containerised cargo that
Kenya and South Africa ports are now receiving. Dr Moosa said the
project would, among other things, involve establishment of 190
factories in start-up zone.
He said upon completion of the whole
project, around 760 factories would have been established, catapulting
the GDP per capita income of Bagamoyo from the current 901 US dollars to
8,100 US dollars by 2047.
He said the project would bring about
multiplier effects, including availing job opportunities to Tanzanians.
He said during project implementation, locals would benefit by providing
labour force, but upon completion of the undertaking a total of 270,000
direct job opportunities would have been created. Dr Mao said the 5.6
billion US dollars project would involve construction of a modern port,
industrial parks and real estate development.
China Merchants Group, a State owned
company with a turnover of over 1 trillion US dollars, signed an
agreement with the government in 2013 to implement the project, a
replica of what it did in Shenzhen, turning it into a modern and
exemplary City in the world from a mere fishing village
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