Fishermen in Bagamoyo where a $10 billion port is to be built. The port
would dwarf neighbouring Kenya’s port at Mombasa. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The government of
Tanzania has issued an ultimatum to the Chinese investor in the $10
billion Bagamoyo port project to either accept and work with its terms
and conditions of the contract or
leave.
Tanzania Ports
Authority chief executive Deusdedit Kakoko said the government rejected
and revised five stringent demands made by the investor - Beijing-based
China Merchants Holdings International - because they were not
beneficial to the country.
The Chinese
investor has now been offered a 33-year lease instead of the 99-year one
asked for. Two, the investor has been informed that there will be no
tax holiday and they will be subjected to all taxes designed by the
Tanzania Revenue Authority.
Three, that there
would be no special status and they would be required to pay the market
rate for water and electricity like any other investor.
Four, they could
not start and run any other business they deemed necessary within the
port without government's approval and were open to scrutiny and
regulation by relevant agencies in line with law like any other
investor.
Five, they were
informed that the government of Tanzania was free to develop other ports
to be in direct competition with Bagamoyo.
Once the Chinese
firm agrees in principal with the government's new conditions, the
project can move to the next stage which is execution in collaboration
with the Oman's State General Reserve Fund (SGRF).
The Bagamoyo port development project was initiated late into the tenure of retired president Jakaya Kikwete.
But President John
Magufuli ordered an immediate suspension of the project in January 2016,
saying the conditions set by the investor were tantamount to selling
Tanzania to China.
The port, to be
built in Bagamoyo, 75 kilometres north of Dar es Salaam, would dwarf
neighbouring Kenya's port at Mombasa, east Africa's trade gateway some
300 kilometres to the north, and include an industrial zone and rail and
road links to a region hoping to exploit new oil and gas finds
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