AFTER years of dilly-dallying by the current investor, the government of Tanzania is now determined to scout for new investors to develop Mchuchuma coal mine and Liganga iron ore projects in Njombe region to enable the country reap benefits from the mega extractive schemes.
The Minister for Investment, Industry and Trade, Dr Ashatu Kijaji, made the assurance on Thursday while addressing members of the business community during the seventh business council held in Njombe Region.
“President Samia Suluhu Hassan had already made directives on development of mines and there is no going back. The ministry is working around the clock to work on the projects.
“It is apparent that the current investor has failed to implement the project, but the country is now opened up and many investors are there to invest in the projects,” Dr Kijaji explained.
The Minister added further that, the government is now working to improve a stretch of road to the mines and pay compensation to residents surrounding the projects.
She noted as well that evaluation for compensation of the residents had already been conducted in the past, adding that the Chief Government Valuer is now re-examining the evaluation books to find out whether the compensation is still 11bn/- which had been indicated earlier.
“What remains is for us to compensate the residents and improve the road infrastructure to enable us to secure another investor to undertake the project. Compensation funds for that have already been allocated.
“The new investor will be tasked to set up an iron and steel processing plant at the site of the mine so as to provide jobs to people in Ludewa, Njombe and Tanzanians as a whole…the vision of the sixth phase government is to ensure value-addition of raw-materials that we are endowed with,” she observed.
Earlier, Njombe Regional Commissioner, Mr Anthony Mtaka, said the central government has allocated 5bn/- for dredging of a hill along the road to the mines which has become a hurdle for transportation of coal from Mchuchuma Coal Mine.
“Once the road is fully completed then we should be sure of starting to transport coal to other areas from the near future,” Mr Mtaka announced.
Adding her voice to the matter, Dr Kijaji said the government wants to sign a contract with the new investor once all issues such as compensation and completion of road infrastructure to the mines have been completed.
The Minister also assured the business community at the meeting that she will engage her counterpart in the Ministry of Minerals to re-distribute coal mining licences which had been taken by the government to artisanal miners around Mchuchuma.
According to initial plans, the Mchuchuma coal-fired power plant was envisaged to produce 600 mega watts of which 250 MW was to be used for the iron plant at Liganga, whist the remaining 350MW is set to be fed to the national grid.
However, the project which was to be undertaken at a cost of about 3 US billion dollars through a consortium of Tanzania China International Mineral Resource Ltd (TCIMRL) has stalled since the contract was signed in 2011.
In another development, Dr Kijaji has implored local traders and farmers to ensure they produce high quality products to be able to penetrate the global markets.
The Minister pointed to the fact that President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been doing a great job of unlocking business potential of Tanzanian products in the international markets.
Apart from the regional market, Dr Kijaji cited the recent visit by Dr Samia to the United States, where the American country agreed to extend by ten years the quota-free African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which was set to set in 2025.
The Minister also mentioned the President’s visit to China where the country allowed Tanzania to sell over 4,000 products to it.
