Africa-Press – Tanzania. INVESTORS from the Vault Tanzania (LTD) Company who have been searching for permits for the past three years are happy to be back in Zanzibar with fresh hope of acquiring a licence to invest in the islands.
“It has taken three years to unsuccessfully wait for permits to establish an investment at Kiuyu Mbuyuni area, Micheweni district, Pemba Island. We had cancelled our plan to invest in Zanzibar, but we are now back,” company official, Said Ally Said informed journalists here.
He said their return is attributed to the promises made by the new regime in Zanzibar under President Hussein Ali Hassan Mwinyi, who has promised to clear all obstacles for investors and improve the business environment in the Islands.
The Vault Tanzania (LTD) plans to invest in tourists’ hotels and natural forest conservation in Pemba, after being motivated by recent statements from both President Mwinyi and his Second Vice-President.
Mr Hemed Suleiman Abdalla had said that bureaucracy and unnecessary delays in issuing permits for investment should be a habit of the past.
Dr Mwinyi has also promised to make the current ‘Zanzibar Investments Promotion Authority (ZIPA)’ a real onestop- centre to cater for investors, “To provide all necessary solutions to applicants with plans to establish projects in the country.”
The investor, Mr Said explained that, for example, his company had applied for permits to construct multiple tourist hotels in Pemba along with investing in conservation of a natural forest aimed at attracting tourists from abroad, “But we waited for a permit in vain.”
He said that reasons for the delays to issue permits are unclear even after being informed that the project had been endorsed by members of the cabinet (Revolutionary Council) during the past regime, and that the only solution is to implement ‘one-stop-centre’ at ZIPA.
The Vault Tanzania (LTD) delegation led by Mr Said met with the Second Vice President Mr Abdalla who immediately after listening to them directed respective executives in the government to solve the problems they had been facing in establishing their projects in Pemba, where Dr Mwinyi has termed as a ‘Strategic investment area.’
According to Mr Said, Vault Tanzania (LTD) 15 years project on 270 acre is expected to create five thousand jobs plus two thousand more to be engaged in vegetable farming, fishing, and seaweed growers who will have to sell their products to the tourists’ hotels.
