Tanzania’s Great Leap Forward towards industrialization

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Tanzania’s Great Leap Forward towards industrialization

1:34 CAT | 08 Dec 2015

Daily News

The journey towards an industrial nation has started by providing a good environment that will attracts domestic and foreign investments. To attract these investments facilities such as electric, logistic, skilled labor force and good laws have to be provided beforehand. In the just-ended FOCAC, Tanzania and China sealed a deal worth roughly 10 billion US dollars into upgrading electricity, railways and special economic zones.

Also under the FOCAC, Sino-Tanzania, three years deal would involve a follow up component and formation of strategic working plan to oversee the proper implementation of those projects.

These projects are construction of central line to standard gauge, Bagamoyo Special Economic Zone and revitalization of TAZARA. “The two projects railway and special some projects are estimated to consume 80 per cent of the total costs,” the official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The Central Railway Line will cost about 7.0 billion US dollars while the special zone will need some 1.0 billion US dollars.

Other projects that fell under the 2nd stage of FOCAC are infrastructure construction — power transmission lines, water, and road — and gas distribution pipelines in Dar Es Salaam, Coast and Mtwara. “The money for implementation of these seven projects will be outsourced by either concessional loan, public, private partnership (PPP), or Chinese aid,” the official said.

But the nation cannot change to industrialization without enough power and strong distribution system. On that score, Tanzania- China agreed on three new areas of assistance that valued at the tune of 760million US dollars.

The project involved is to build a new 400kVh transmission lines on the northeast area from Dar Es Salaam, through Coast, Tanga, Kilimanjaro to Arusha valued at 680 million US dollars.

“This project is in line with the industrialization initiative the country is driving at and power distribution on national grid after the construction of the gas pipeline,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry official said. China’s Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen outlined four points, which would help African countries to forge ahead and develop a sustainable independent growth.

“After 30 years of industrialization, we have accumulated know-how of industrial system, which we will use to help Africa industrialization,” Mr. Wang said. He said Beijing will prepare a comprehensive package, “based on our own experience” of how to industrialize Africa as per individual countries.

The four areas are top level design where China will send a team of senior experts, consultants and to support, plan, and design industries – under a tailor-mode as per country request. Second is cooperation portfolio on developing industrial parks where with limited resources to maximize the returns.

The third area is on human resources which is very crucial and critical toward industrialization especially senior managers and technicians. Mr. Wang said over course of three years China will offer training for some 40,000 African in industrial sector to youth and women.

The last in line is building of vocational training centers that will help train the middle carder of technicians as “a larger population is not necessary a larger base of skills,” Mr. Wang said. Despite all these factors offered by Chinese government, the country still needs to do more to benefits and quicken the pace for industrial relocation. The main factor outside those lined up by Chinese is corruption and red tape.

Beijing, with its policy of non-interference, has to tackle this locally. Without addressing the red-tape gap, it signals that, as former China Ambassador to Zambia Zhou Yuxiao put it, “Tanzania does not own the process.”
“It is challenging,” said Ambassador Zhou, “strategies and policies for attracting capacity transfer and lager scale investment are still absent in many (African) countries.”

Prof Garth Shelton of the University of Witwatersrand mapped out five key strategic areas, which would help wooing FDIs from China to Tanzania countries. The don named the areas , which include offering a five-year tax holiday, firsthand information to be provide prior for Chinese coming to Africa. He said though the industrialization is a long term process, the concept is best if implemented gradually, like China itself.

The country’s economic and special zones are keys in the realization of the industrialization strategy. “Tanzania as well as other African countries needs to create right condition to attract investments,” Prof Shelton said the sideline of China-Africa Relations Roundtable Conference.

The scholar, who specializes on Sino-Africa said, “We need to create skills, transport logistics and other infrastructure. I think we can do it, and in next four years Africa will change.”

China’s Xi Jinping pledges 60 billion US dollars to help Africa solve its problems its own way while pointing ten working areas to speed up economic, cultural and diplomatic cooperation.

President Xi also promised that China would train 200,000 African technicians, bringing some of them to China. “China and Africa share a common future. We Chinese and Africans have forged a profound friendship through our common historical experience and our common struggles,” Xi said.

Source: Daily News