AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE Minister of State in the Vice-President’s Office (Union and Environment), Mussa Azzan Zungu has promised quick intervention to end the problem of getting scrap metal that cripples production of Mukuranga-based Lodhia Steel Industries.
The company daily requires 8,000 tonnes of scrap metal but gets only 2,000 due to the National Environment Management Council (NEMC), red-tape.
Mr Zungu promised to consult NEMC to put in place a good system of issuing permits to scrap metal vendors.
“The kind of machinery that gives you the quality of being designated as a primary industry and this is important to us as a nation,” he said.
The minister reiterated that the government highly valued local industries for their worth, more so that now Tanzania is a middle-income nation.
Mr Zungu praised the company for protecting and preserving the environment as required by the law.
Lodhia Steel Industries Managing Director, Mr Sailesh Pandit, told the minister that the country had plenty of scrap metal but the firm was getting only 2,000 tonnes because suppliers had no permits to supply the raw material.
“We cannot switch on machines in the furnace unless we have 8,000 tonnes in place. But we can only get 2,000 tonnes and for the last two week we had not even received 2,000 tonnes. “We appeal for your intervention so that we can have uninterrupted production,” said Mr Pandit, adding that the furnace alone employs 300 workers.
He reported that reliable small entrepreneurs who sell the scrap metal to the factory were unable to do so because they had difficulties in getting requisite permits from NEMC.
Scrap metal, he said, was badly needed to sustain local industrial production, explaining that steel products were in high demand in on-going infrastructure projects like building the SGR, the JKN hydro-power scheme in Rufiji and building big bridges.
Mr Pandit also told the minister that the small entrepreneurs were asserting that the annual 1.5mn/-tax was too big, besides the initial 50,000/-form fee they must pay to get permits.
“It is wise to look into this challenge Mr Minister,” he appealed.
The MD also reported that medium entrepreneurs who sell more than three tonnes who were caught doing business without permits were fined 5m/-.
The company produces a range of products including steel bars and plastic tanks and exports products to Burundi and DRC Congo.
