AfricaPress-Tanzania: PRESIDENT John Magufuli has instructed the Morogoro Regional Tanroads manager to expand the Morogoro-Dodoma highway at Dumila Township in Mvomero District.
The Head of State also said, the government would release 100m/- for the construction business cubicles along the highway in a grand plan to upgrade the business environment to the dwellers.
Dr Magufuli made the statements while addressing Dumila residents, where he stopped briefly to greet the wananchi on his way to Dodoma from Dar es Salaam.
The petty traders at the Dumila town, among other things, had requested the Head of State to assist in building the cubicles and expand the road in their area.
Dr Magufuli’s move is in part of his continued efforts to smoothen the business environment for petty traders across the country.
In December 2018, President Magufuli handed out a total of 670,000 IDs to entrepreneurs, whose business capital does not exceed 4m/-, and also presented 25,000 IDs to each regional commissioner for onward distribution.
Before the exercise, President Magufuli said Tanzania’s tax base was very poor compared to neighbouring countries, including Kenya, since only 2.2 million people in the country with a population of 55 million were taxpayers.
The president advised the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) to ensure that taxes were not too high for traders to afford.
He said holders of IDs would be formally recognised by TRA officials at their work stations.
Speaking recently, the TRA Taxpayer Services and Education Director Richard Kayombo said a total of 1.59 million IDs worth 31.86bn/- had been distributed from June 2018 to June 2020. The 20,000/-worth ID cards which are renewable annually are given to traders running a business with a maximum profit turnaround of 4m/- each.
Those considered as small scale entrepreneurs include traders who earn not more than 2m/- a year and less than 12,000/-per day.
According to him, the introduction of the IDs for petty traders has yielded positive results, enabling some of them to expand businesses and access commercial loans.
