Africa-Press – Tanzania. REVENUE collections from hunting blocks have almost tripled in the past two years after the government opted for online auctioning instead of tendering system.
Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ms Mary Masanja, announced that on Sunday in Dar es Salaam adding that the collections have gone up by 267 per cent.
“The government changed the system of leasing hunting blocks from tendering to auctioning. The auctioning system which is done through online has seen revenues from the blocks increasing up to 8,325,000 US dollars, while in tendering system it would have generated 2,268,000 US Dollars only,” Ms Masanja said at a press conference.
She further said that the revenues which are earned from application and hunting fees were generated from six different auctions which were conducted between 2019 and January 2022.
The deputy minister also said that there were still hopes for the government to make more money from auctioning 75 hunting blocks, adding the next tender will be conducted in March this year.
“The government will continue to use this system which has proved successful in promoting fairness among competitors and beneficial for the national interest. May I also call upon other traders interested in block hunting business to join this auctioning system,” she said.
Ms Masanja noted that the auctioning system has increased the market of hunting blocks, where so far block grade three previously tendered at 18,000 US dollars has now been sold at 200,000 US dollars using the online auctioning, which is 11 times more.
In hunting block grade two, the increase was noted as eight times, which is up to 250,000 US dollars from the previous 30,000 UD dollars.
The deputy minister revealed that hunting block grade one has seen its value increasing to 285,000 US Dollars, when using the auctioning system from 60,000 US dollars during previous system of tendering.
At the same time, the government has permitted local hunters to own a lion’s share in block hunting business.
This, according to the deputy minister, follows the fact that 80 per cent of companies win in the auctions are local.
“The regulations require that at least 30 percent of companies awarded tender be Tanzanians, but since starting of the auctioning system, we have seen more than 80 percent of the companies being local. This is a positive gesture in this business,”
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