By Edward Qorro
Arusha — AT least 30 hunting blocks are to be subjected to Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority (Tawa) auction.
Electronic auctioning, which kicks off early next month, will see the hunting blocks located in Game Reserves (GRs), Game Controlled Areas (GCAs) and Open Areas (OAs) sold to eligible hunting companies.
According to information available on Tawa website, eligible hunting companies can only be allocated up to five hunting blocks each.
For instance, to get a category I hunting block, a company or an individual will have to part ways with 11.5m/-($5,000), while the category II and III each costs 4.6m/-($2,000) and 2.3m/-($1,000) respectively.
The online action is set to last for seven days since its commencement on February 8.
Some of the hunting blocks that are up for grabs include Kizigo Game Reserve located within the Ruaha-Rungwa ecosystem, Ugalla-Msima East Game Reserve in Katavi-Rukwa and Kilombero Mlima North in Selous-Mikumi ecosystem.
Others are Mlele Game Controlled Area in Katavi-Rukwa ecosystem and Moyowosi/Njingwe Game Reserve located within the Malagarasi-Moyovosi Game ecosystem.
During the electronic auctioning, bidders will remain anonymous while bids will be automatically ranked, the contents of which will be encrypted.
According to the Wildlife Conservation Act, no person shall be considered for allocation of a hunting block unless he has a company registered with the Registrar of Companies within Tanzania intending to engage in animal hunting.
The company also needs to have at least one of the directors to have five year-experience in wildlife business and conservation in Tanzania.
The law further stipulates that the tenure of ownership of hunting blocks to be 10 years for Category I and II hunting blocks and 15 years for Category III hunting blocks whereas the minister responsible for Tourism and Natural Resources, shall on the fifth year of the tenure of ownership of a hunting block, determine the continuity of the tenure.
The minister's decision shall be based on the annual performance assessment and the evaluation of the hunting block utilisation and full performance of the company allocated a hunting block.
While addressing tourism stakeholders back in October 2017, the then Tourism Minister Hamis Kigwangalla stated that all hunting permits will be re-applied through auction.
According to the minister, issuing hunting permits through auction will make the exercise more transparent with a view to curbing rampant corruption in the process of issuing hunting licences.
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