Category: Business

Tanzania will soon see her cement production capacity surging to over 17 million tonnes, thanks to three new companies that have requested to invest in the country’s cement sector.

The three companies plan to inject up to 20tri/- in production of cement in the next few years. Launching the Industrial Exhibitions at the Mwalimu Nyerere Trade Fair (DITF) grounds along Kilwa Road in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the Industry, Trade and Investment Minister, Mr Charles Mwijage, named the new entrants in the cement sector as EAM, Mamba and Sungura companies.

He said EAM Company has asked to have its three million tonnes cement plant in Tanga Region. “But the investors say they are capable of producing up to seven million tonnes should the government agree on their two conditions,” said the minister.

“Their first condition is for the government to allow them to export their product … my ministry has nodded to this condition,” revealed the minister, noting, however, that he cannot reveal the second condition, which he said, “I have forwarded to my boss, the president.”

The minister was optimistic that the government was serious in establishing an industrial economy, the reason it invites more investors in the country. Mr Mwijage further said that Mamba and Sungura companies have also expressed interest to invest in the country, hinting that negotiations between the government and the two prospective investors were on progress.

Other players already in the country’s cement sector are Twiga, Simba, Tembo, Nyati and Carmel whose combined production capacity stands at 10.3 million tonnes, implying that the current manufacturers, which are not producing to their installed capacities, if combined with EAM’s capacity of seven million tonnes, will reach over 17 million tonnes.

Mtwara-based Dangote Cement Company is another investor whose operations have been recently halted over alleged technical hitches. With three million tonnes, Dangote, according to the minister, has the highest production capacity in the country.

There are still uncertainties surrounding the Dangote Cement company over its current decision to suspend operations, with sources hinting that the investor was in a dispute with the government over operational costs.

However, the government has repeatedly insisted that it was not in conflict whatsoever with the Mtwara based cement manufacturer. Mr Mwijage said yesterday that the country has installed capacity of producing 10.3 million tonnes of cement, with only seven million tonnes capacity being utilised.

The country’s highest cement demand, according to the minister, is 10.3 million tonnes.

The government will take the views of the private sector in deliberation of its position on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and the East African Community (EAC), a cabinet minister has said.

Industry, Trade and Investments Minister Charles Mwijage told members of the private sector at the CEO Roundtable gala dinner in Dar es Salaam on Saturday that the government would take on board their views in reaching a position on the protracted negotiations of the trade deal with the EU.

“You will be invited when we deliberate on the government position on EPAs,” the minister told a number of heads of businesses at the 8th Annual gala dinner, which is a policy dialogue forum and a platform for captains of industry to engage with the government on the issues affecting the business environment in the country.

He said although the government did not consult them when it decided not to sign the trade deal, it had their interests at heart to make sure the local businesses were protected from any deal that may have negative impacts on them.

Leaders of the East African Community (EAC) postponed EPA with the EU when they met in Dar es Salaam in September and demanded more time to assess the impact of the agreements before the actual signing takes place.

Kenya and Rwanda signed the trade deal with EU in August on fears that they may lose access to European markets when their shipments to the EU market would have started attracting duty after the October 1 deadline.

However, the deal needs approval from all members of the East African Community bloc — which also includes Burundi and Uganda — to take effect. The EU granted Kenya a four-month reprieve to ratify the agreement saying it demonstrated commitment to the trade pact.

The EU parliament extended the deadline to withdraw Kenya’s preferential market access to the EU market to February 2, 2017. Kenya stands to lose the most without the deal signed, as other member states — including Tanzania, Burundi, and Uganda — would still continue getting duty- and quota-free access under EU’s Everything But Arms initiative since they are classified as Least Developed Countries.

The EU is Kenya’s biggest export destination, taking up cut flowers, French beans, fruit, fish, textiles, coffee and tea. Members of Parliament unanimously called on the government not to sign the trade deal due to potential negative implications for the country’s industrialisation strategy if the deal is inked in its current form.

The parliamentary vote was preceded by an information session during which three scholars of the University of Dar es Salaam – Palamagamba Kabudi, Ng’waza Kamatta, and John Jingu – cautioned that the pact would be detrimental to the country’s economy.

The scholars had been tasked by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to assess the implications of the EPA. MPs from both the ruling party and the opposition parties called on the Tanzanian government to renegotiate the EPA on terms that would allow for better protection of domestic industries.

A few parliamentarians also expressed concerns that rejecting the deal could have a negative impact on aid flows and development cooperation between the EU and EAC countries.

The EU Head of Delegation to Tanzania, Mr Roeland Van Geer, recently told the ‘Daily News’ that the union had no intention to impose sanctions on Tanzania to press the East African nation into ratifying the widely criticised trade deal.

Under the terms of the EPA, the EU will liberalise its market for EAC goods by 100 per cent while EAC member states will liberalise their market by 82.6 per cent on a progressive basis over period of 25 years after signature.

Some small-scale traders still use informal entries to have their goods in the East African Community (EAC) partner states’ markets due to ignorance on the free move-ment of people and goods in the region.

In separate occasions, the three organisations that edu-cate entrepreneurs in the coun-try told the ‘Daily News’ that many small businesspeople whom they had talked with confirmed to have used il-legal routes, admitting being unaware of the benefits that come with the EAC common market, particularly on the free movement of goods and people.

Reached for comment yes-terday, the Minister for For-eign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Dr Augustine Mahiga, promised to explain in details soon on the ways

Tanzanians could benefit from the common market as well as the government’s strategies to raise public awareness on the matter.

The Treasurer with Vib-indo Society, Mr Jumbe Ng-utto, said traders were missing the opportunity to exploit the potentials of customs duty free trading of goods not exceeding 2,000 US dollars (about 4.3m/) within the EAC partner states due to lack of awareness.

“Awareness is a seri-ous challenge … traders pass through illegal borders, risk-ing arrests, even if they have goods whose value is within the allowable amount,” Mr Ngutto told the ‘Daily News’ during a recent interview.

He said the society has for the past one year engaged in awareness campaign to edu-cate the business groups about the immense opportunities that the EAC avails to them, but financial constraints have impeded efforts to reach out to many traders and entrepre-neurs across the country.

The Vibindo Society is one of the beneficiaries of a programme under the Founda-tion for Civil Society (FCS) that seeks to build capacity of organisations to educate the public about EAC issues.

Assistant National Coordi-nator for CARITAS-Tanzania, a faith-based organisation that supports entrepreneurs, Ms Anna Sifa, said since major-ity small entrepreneurs re-main unaware of the EAC free movement of people, some of them tend to use their friends in other partner states to smug-gle their goods.