Investors seek access to strategic infrastructure in Coast Region
KIBAHA: LOCAL investors have urged the government to create a framework giving businesses access to strategically located sites backed by public infrastructure, saying this could accelerate production, agro-processing, trade and privatesector investment across the Coast Region.
The call was made recently at an investment forum in Kibaha, Coastal Region which involved business stakeholders, saying some areas have infrastructure in place but remain difficult for local companies to access for productive activities.
Gideon Kalimanzira, Managing Director of GIPA Foods & General Supplies Limited, which processes agricultural products including cassava and cassava byproducts for animal feed, said the region has significant investment potential that remains underutilised.
Mr Kalimanzira said the government-backed infrastructure could provide a platform for domestic investors to establish processing facilities and add value to agricultural products.
“The Coast Region has many opportunities, and fortunately the government has already invested in strategic areas. The question is how we can leverage those investments,” he said.
He cited Mlandizi as an example of a strategically located area that could support producers and businesses if local investors were given clearer access.
“Strategic areas such as Mlandizi are difficult for us to access. Giving local entrepreneurs space to operate there would make it easier to expand our businesses,” he said.
Mr Kalimanzira said infrastructure would generate greater economic returns if linked to production, processing and markets rather than remaining underused.
The forum also highlighted the Coast Region’s growing role as a transport and trade corridor.
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Elly Palanjo, a member of the Livestock Keepers Association in Kibaha, said the use of strategic sites should be considered from a broader perspective, particularly in view of the Coast Region’s important role in transport and trade.
She cited the Kwala Dry Port as an example of infrastructure intended to ease congestion at the Port of Dar es Salaam and facilitate cargo movement across Tanzania and neighbouring countries.
Further, he said expansion of inland container depots (ICDs) should be assessed within a wider economic and land-use strategy to ensure transport investments deliver their intended results.
Ms Palanjo also raised concerns that some ICDs had been developed on land previously designated for community use, calling for such projects to be considered within broader urban planning and regional development plans.
Meanwhile, a participant representing the Estate Chamber in Dar es Salaam Mr Richard Kayombo said some residents and investors bought land anticipating major development linked to government infrastructure plans.
“People rushed there to buy land expecting Kigamboni to bring opportunities, but to date we have not seen development on the scale we anticipated,” he said.
The experience, Mr Kayombo said, underlined the need to align infrastructure development with investment planning and provide investors with accurate information about opportunities and development timelines.
For the Coast Region, participants said the priority is to turn infrastructure into productive capital through transparent access to strategic sites, efficient land use and stronger government-private sector cooperation.
They said such an approach could help increase production, value addition, jobs and trade while improving the economic returns from Tanzania’s infrastructure investments.
