By James Kamala
TANZANIA has signed
three agreements with France, through the French Development Agency
(AFD), for a concessional loan of 230 million euros (about 592.57bn/-),
to
finance three mega development projects.
The projects
include improving supply of water from Lake Victoria to Mwanza city's
suburbs of Kisesa and Buswelu and Buhongwa, supporting rural electricity
as well as electricity interconnection between Tanzania and Zambia.
The agreement was
signed in Dar es Salaam yesterday by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry
of Finance and Planning, Mr Dotto James on behalf of Tanzania and
France Ambassador to Tanzania, Frederic Clavier, on behalf of France and
AFD Country Resident Director, Stephanie Essombe.
"The agreements
include loans aiming to finance Rural Electrification through the
Densification Project Round II (B), amounting to 100 million euro (about
257.64bn/-), which will cover 16 regions of Mainland Tanzania," said Mr
James during the signing ceremony, adding that for the Tanzania-Zambia
electricity inter-connector project, they will get 100 million euro to
co-finance the connection of the Southern African Power Pool with
Eastern African Power Pool.
Mr James further
said that a sum of 30 million euro (over 77.2bn/-), will finance
additional works for Lake Victoria Water Supply and Sanitation Project
to cover Buhongwa, Kisesa, Buswelu and Usagara areas in Mwanza city.
Speaking shortly
after the signing of the agreements, French Ambassador to Tanzania Mr
Frederic Clavier praised the Tanzanian government for implementing
community-based developmental projects and accelerating economic growth,
while promising that his government will be shoulder-to-shoulder to
ensure the country reaches the envisaged middle economy status by 2025.
"France has chosen
Tanzania in Africa, to carry forward future efforts of attaining future
lives not just as a development partner but a true friend mainly in
aspects of economy, defense and security as the country has good
atmosphere strived to maintaining peace, stability and government's
firmness in realisation of developmental projects," Ambassador Clavier
said.
The ambassador
added that France is impressed on how Tanzania implements projects that
directly affect the community such as improvement of water, energy,
health and education services, under the leadership of President John
Magufuli.
For her part, AFD
Country Resident Director, Stephanie Essombe said that the projects
aimed at improving water supply from Lake Victoria to selected suburbs
of Buswelu, Buhongwa and Kisasa to up to 45 million cubic litres to meet
the demands of the growing population, while protecting the lake from
pollution.
On the side of
power project, the Resident Director said that it aimed at facilitating
power supply to villagers to propel their development as well as
improving electricity connection between Southern and Eastern African
countries through Tanzania and Zambia
The signing was
also witnessed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Water, Prof
Kitila Mkumbo, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Energy, Zena Saidi and
the executives from water and energy regulatory institutions including
the Tanzania National Electricity Corporation (Tanesco), the Rural
Electricity Agency (REA) and the Mwanza Urban Water Supply and
Sanitation Authority (MWAUWASA).
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