Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE government through the Ministry of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Investment) is preparing a bill proposal that will replace the 1997 Tanzania Investment Act, which is considered outdated.
Minister responsible for Investment, Mr Geoffrey Mwambe, disclosed this while presenting a status report of Tanzania investment in Dar es Salaam, on Thursday.
Mr Mwambe observed that implementing the existing legislation has encountered several challenges and gaps due to being outdated.
“Enacting a new law will help tackle the challenges and gaps as well as solve a mismatch with other laws that govern the same,” said Mr Mwambe.
He, however, noted that due to the current situation and demand, the ministry has been driven to draft the proposal for the new Investment Bill and request the approval of the cabinet.
“Considering the importance of investment in boosting country’s economy, we believe that the approval will be granted by the cabinet and later be presented for tabling in the Parliament,” noted the minister.
According to him, the most current law ought to be the best in comparison to the existing one in terms of its operations and competitiveness.
Apart from enacting the new legislation, the minister said they have been carrying out various reforms with regard to the National Investment Promotion Policy, 1996, a move aimed to attract more investment and promote exports in creating more jobs and foreign direct investments and gross domestic income (GDI).
Minister Mwambe noted that on several occasions President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been issuing directives for the country to have enabling policies and legislations, which will support the development agenda.
On the other hand, the minister directed investors to communicate directly with the responsible ministry for all their investment needs purposely for resolving any hurdles which may be faced in the process of setting up investments in the country.
The move will help to overcome issues relating to proper coordination with the right parties, doing away cases of bribery and misinformation, which might be caused by unscrupulous individuals.
“We encourage all investors to present their issues to the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) on any issue relating to investment regardless …you will be well linked with the right parties,” maintained the Minister.
Mr Mwambe also called upon ministries, regional administrations and councils to maintain land banks for investment in their respective areas as well as prepare the profile of the allocated land to boost investment in the country.
He was of the view that the initiative will help to attract more investors to come to the country which will in turn promote exports and generate FDIs.
“We are planning to introduce a guideline for the regions, local government authorities (LGAs) and ministries to maintain an investment land bank by January next year,” said Mr Mwambe.
Thus, urged all public servants to fulfill their responsibilities in their respective areas, saying that the only way the government can increase investment volume is by maintaining an enabling business environment.
Likewise, he observed that the government is planning to introduce a policy, which will govern the aspect of mandatory membership of the private sector under one umbrella, noting that the initiative will help in their coordination.
He revealed that it is currently very difficult to coordinate the activities of the private sector because they have disintegrated, citing an example of the Confederation of Tanzania Industry (CTI) which has only 400 members while there are about 61,000 industries in the country.
“Imagine having to handle individual concerns from more than 60,000 people, this is a hassle for the government because of the lack of coordination,” he said.
