IN a bid to promote mineral businesses, the government is looking forward to construct strong rooms at various airports across the country for the purpose of preserving the precious stones.
Deputy Minister for Works, Construction and Communication, Mr Elias Kwandikwa said in Mwanza during a consultative meeting with stakeholders in the mining sector that the government aims at ensuring safety and create good environment of doing the business.
The meeting was attended by traders, investors and government officials. He said that the government is committed to resolve all challenges that face the mining sector and that construction of strong rooms was one of many strategies that will be put in place to promote the business.
He said there have been some challenges in transporting minerals especially when flights are cancelled and that the government has decided to come up with the idea of constructing strong rooms for safe preservation.
“The government is aware of challenges that face mineral dealers when it comes to flight cancellation, therefore this project aims at ending all those problems and enable traders to do business peacefully,” he said.
However, the Deputy Minister invited opinions and suggestions from traders, investors and the public at large regarding the best way of improving transport and communication for the betterment of the country.
Earlier, one of the mineral dealers in Geita and Mwanza, Mr Makono Maganyala it has been dangerous for them when there is flight cancellation.
“Police officers provide escort up to airport, so when there is flight cancellation, it requires us to start contacting the police for protection, this has been a big risk to us,” he noted.
“We are asking the government to construct the strong rooms so that it could be easier for us to keep our properties when there is flight cancellation or any other technical problem, it is very risky to walk around carrying minerals,” he said.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Investment), Angellah Kairuki said the government is committed to ensure good investing environment.
She said the aim for organising consultative meeting was to give an opportunity to stakeholders to air their views, opinions and suggests for both service and business improvement.
