MPs give Mwijage hard time over dormant factories

From DAILY NEWS Reporter in Dodoma

INDUSTRY, Trade and Investment Ministry was grilled here yesterday, with Members of Parliament (MPs) demanding explanations over non-performing privatised factories.

The Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Trade and Environment sneered what it described as unwelcoming report that the ministry presented on the performance of privatised entities.

The Committee Chairman, Mr Sadick Murad said shortly after the meeting with the ministry officials that the committee was not pleased by the report. The ministry was directed to conduct another due diligence to find out how many factories out of the 156 that were privatised were operating.
“The committee has been told that out of the 156 privatised companies, only 62 were operating normally, 28 were underperforming and 56 had been closed by their current owners while ten were sold as assets,” Mr Murad told journalists.
He said the committee has discovered that even someof the 62 factories claimed to operate were not operating at the moment, directing the ministry to come clear on the issue. “We want to know how many factories were operating, the capacity of their production and the number of employment created,” he said.
Mr Murad said further that owners of some of the factories and facilities had breached terms under which they were privatised, insisting that such facilities must be repossessed by the government. “It is high time we helped President John Magufuli in ensuring that all non-performing privatised factories are revived or else be repossessed by the government,” he noted.
Last year, President John Magufuli publicly rebuked Industry, Trade and Investment Minister, Charles Mwijage for not taking action against investors, who had left factories and other facilities taken over from the government “to rot”.
Speaking before officially commissioning Kilimanjaro Cement Company in Tanga last year, President Magufuli said there were 197 dormant entities that were formerly owned by the state.
However, Minister Mwijage said that the government had formed a task force to monitor the performance of privatised factories to ensure they operated according to government’s expectations. In another development, Mr Murad said the committee has advised the government to fast track establishment of Industrial Park in Dar es Salaam.