AfricaPress-Tanzania: A TOTAL of 13.12tril/- has so far been spent in the first half of 2020/21 financial year, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has said.
The money that was spent between July and December 30 last year is equivalent to 82.8 per cent of the target.
The Premier made the statement on Saturday during his speech to wind up the second meeting of the 12th Parliament in Dodoma. He said the released 10.52tri/- was for other charges while 2.6 tri/- was for development projects.
For the year 2020/21, Parliament approved a government budget of 34.88tril/- where 22.1tri/- was for other charges while the development budget stood at 12.78tri/-.
“The government also received a total of 730.7bn/- in budget support from development partners, the money that was channeled directly to development projects, causing the implementation of development budget to reach 69.4 per cent,” he said.
Moreover, a total of 254.6bn/- was spent on clearing the verified outstanding arrears of the civil servants, contractors and various service providers.
Speaking of the achievements recorded in the first six months of the implementation of the 2020/21 budget, the premier said the government managed to conduct the general election by using its own sources at a cost of 268.5bn/-.
“The government also spent 3.64tri/- on paying salaries to public service servants, 124.8bn/- on financing fee free education policy and 105.bn/- for loaning higher education students,” he told the Parliament.
He said the government has continued to implement the strategic development projects including the construction of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), the 2115 Megawat-Julius Nyerere Hydroelectricity Power Project (JNHPP), as well as the continued improvement of Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL).
Some of the other development projects that were in the government’s concentration include water and rural electrification projects, as well as construction of roads, bridges and infrastructures such as roads, bridges, airports.
According to him, the construction of a 300km of SGR from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro has reached 90 per cent to the accomplishment while the 422km section from Morogoro- Makutopora is at 49.2 per cent.
“Moreover, the government has already signed a contract for the construction of the 341km of SGR line from Mwanza- Isaka at a cost of 3.07tri/- as it is proceeding with the efforts to mobilise budget for the construction of the Makutupora – Tabora (km 294) and Tabora – Isaka (km 133). A total of 274.1bn/- has been spent so far in the first half of the 2020/21,” he said.
The Parliament was also informed that, the construction of JNHPP is at 25.8 per cent as a total of 128.9bn/- has already been spent in the first half of the financial year under review.
Also, the government has spent 2.8bn/- on finalising payment for purchasing of ATCL’s Bombardier Dash-Q400 and Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, as well as initial payment for procuring three airplanes including two Airbus A220-300 and one Bombardier Dash8-Q400 De-Havilland.
“This will make Tanzania having 12 aircraft from one that it was having in the year 2015. Three of them will arrive in the financial year 2021/22,” said the Premier.
Apart from the achievements, there were some challenges that the government faced in the implementation of the budget, such as destruction of infrastructure from heavy rain, tax evasion by some of the dishonest business men, eruption of novel coronavirus.
Going forward, the premier said the government would work on all suggestions including continuing strengthening efforts of collecting tax for the national development.
