Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE government has reaffirmed its strong commitment to continue safe- guarding national resources and ensure they contribute more to the country’s socio-economic development.
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa stated pn Wednesday that one of the means would be to continuously implement re- forms on guidelines and procedures govern- ing mining and trade activities in order to attract more investment in those sectors.
The premier revealed this in Geita Region at the opening of the 4th Technology and Invest- ment Mining Exhibition taking place from Sep- tember 16 to 26 this year.
“The government will keep on taking all necessary measures to protect and develop the resources so that they can benefit all Tanzanians and the country…We should all support the government in this endeavor,” said Mr Majaliwa.
He said in the financial year 2019/20 and 2020/21, the mineral sector contributed 6.7 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as compared to 3.4 percent recorded in 2015.
“This has seen a continued increase in collection of rev- enues from the mining sector from 168bn/- in the financial year 2015/16 to 584.8bn/- in 2020/21.
“The government will contin- ue to support the sector so it con- tributes more in building an indus- trial economy to achieve the 2025 vision with a target of making the sector contribute at least 10 percent of the GDP,” the PM said.
Mr Majaliwa pointed out that the government was closely monitoring the operations of small miners who face difficulties to get minerals but in the end they earn less.
He, thus, reiterated the government’s commitment to empower the group in order to make their activities more prof- itable.
The PM outlined some of the initiatives geared at support- ing small scale miners, including strengthening the activities of the Geological Survey of Tanzania (GST) and State Mining Corpo- ration (STAMICO) to make the institutions offer affordable and improved services to artisanal miners in the country.
Mr Majaliwa was optimistic that such initiatives would en- able small miners to run their operations productively and reli- ably, thereby contributing to the economic growth of the country.
He urged the artisanal min- ers to take advantage of the available opportunities, direct- ing the Ministry of Minerals to effectively supervise the issue of local content in key projects.
The Minister for Minerals, Mr Dotto Biteko, on the other hand, pledged to continue su- pervising the mining sector ef- fectively to fulfill the vision of President Samia Suluhu Hassan of making the country a mineral hub.
The Mwanza Regional Commissioner Eng Robert Ga- briel noted that the exhibitions are of great importance to the country, noting that many Tan- zanians are now benefiting from the mining value chain in the country.
“In the financial year 2020/21 about 961 local com- panies (66 per cent) have partici- pated and benefited from mining activities within the country.
“The purchase value in- volving local companies went up 579.32 million US dollars equivalent to (63 per cent).
This is a great achievement and the path is clear due to available strategies set by the government to reach 90 per cent,” he said.
On his part, the President of the Association of Artisanal and small-scale mining, Mr John Mbina, commended the government for the way it has been co- ordinating mining activities.
“Artisanal and small-scale miners contributed 180bn/- in the government coffers…this is a sign that the future is brighter for the miners,” noted Mr Mbina.
Geita Gold Mining Com- pany (GGML) vice-president, Simon Shayo, said apart from paying government taxes and supporting communities, the company has provided employ- ment to more than 5,000 Tanzanians, including those working under contractors.
He said so far about 98 per cent of GGML employees and 83 per cent of the management team are Tanzanians. “We are also pleased to see that our presence in Geita Region and Tanzania in general has been very productive in the development,” noted Mr Shayo.
