The East African Community (EAC) | Business, Economy and Infrastructure news [Archive]

xJamaax

May 22nd, 2011, 09:58 PM

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/image/view/-/1167294/medRes/263868/-/maxw/600/-/a7sr3b/-/bd-shopping3.jpg

Stanslaus Kimani, 27, lives in a two-bedroomed flat in Nairobi’s South C estate, and works at one of the city’s investment banks. He is also a Bachelor of Commerce student at the University of Nairobi, and pays school fees for his younger brother in secondary school.

His daily expenses total a little over $20 a day. According to a recent report by the African Development Bank (ADB), that puts him in the “high income” or rich class — in the same ranks as Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa with a net worth of about $13.8 billion.

Mr Kimani doesn’t agree with that categorisation. “Twenty dollars a day is not rich. Certainly I’m not poor, but there are people in this city that can comfortably spend more than Ksh 15,000 ($175) a day. Those people could be called rich. I think of myself as somewhere in the middle.”

Africa’s middle class has been growing modestly in the past decade, but ADB admits that it is difficult to define who exactly falls into this group, and even harder still to establish how many middle class people there are in Africa.

The report estimates the size of the middle class — those spending between $2 and $20 a day — at about 313 million people, or 34.3 per cent of the continent’s population — a spike from 111 million two decades ago.

In East Africa, the figure comes to a total of about 29.3 million, representing an average of 22.6 per cent of the population; 44.9 per cent of Kenya’s population, 18.7 per cent in Uganda, 12.1 per cent in Tanzania, 7.7 per cent in Rwanda, and 5.3 per cent in Burundi.

The report notes that a well established middle class is catalytic to the growth of democratic space. It is certainly no coincidence that two of the countries with the largest percentage of middle class citizens in Africa —Tunisia (89.5 per cent) and Egypt (79.7 per cent) — reached a tipping point and overturned their corrupt, repressive regimes.

In 2010, the turnover of Kenyan supermarket chain Nakumatt increased by 15 per cent, and 11 new stores were opened, nine in Kenya and two in Uganda, bringing the total number of stores in the region to 32. This year, expansion into Tanzania is in the offing. In Rwanda, Nakumatt has signed up to a new location in Kigali and is looking at more locations in the country.

But other analysts believe that this apparent growth of purchasing power should be tempered with caution, as it could actually be a sign of widening inequality.

A 2010 survey by Consumer Insight in Kenya showed that the country’s middle class, who are mostly dependent on wage earnings, has been shrinking considerably in the past few years. With wage earnings that are not commensurate with spiralling inflation, the survey found that the middle income segment had contracted to a mere 18 per cent from 27 per cent in 2005.

Source (http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/-/2558/1167238/-/item/1/-/t7an03/-/index.html)

èđđeůx

May 22nd, 2011, 10:18 PM

That 29 million, not that big of a number, must be people who can afford to spend around $10 dollars a day. Meaning they'd at least have to have an income around $3,350. Considering how the per capita income of most East African countries is around $1,000-$2,000 someone making at least $3,000 could be considered middle class, at least low middle class.

xJamaax

May 23rd, 2011, 07:30 PM

Rayman87

May 28th, 2011, 11:25 AM

Regional rail project to cost US$5bn

The proposed railway line linking Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania will cost US$5 billion, a preliminary study indicates.

This cost includes construction of new railway lines and the rehabilitation of the existing ones, said Dr. Frederick Addo-Abedi, the Managing Director of the Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA).

“The actual cost will be determined after the detailed design. The project is expected to be funded by a Public–Private Partnership (PPP),” he said.

Dr. Addo-Abedi explained that the whole project comprises of: rehabilitation of the existing Dar es Salaam-Isaka line (980km) and construction of a new 494 km Isaka-Kigali (355km in Tanzania and 139km in Rwanda).

A new 197 km line will also be constructed from Isaka to Gitega and Musongati through Keza, in Burundi.

The procurement process for the detailed design is ongoing and expected to be complete by the end of July.

A detailed Study is expected to start by July and “will focus more in deepening the institutional framework and structuring the project in the form of a PPP.”

According to Dr. Addo-Abedi, the detailed study may be completed by Mid 2012 and the construction phase is expected to start by the end of 2012 with a timeframe of 4-5 years, for completion.

The project is funded by the African Development Bank (AFDB).

Rwanda is leading the coordination, Tanzania is chairing while Burundi occupies the deputy chair.

http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=14639&article=41640

Rayman87

May 28th, 2011, 11:28 AM

Hope it will not have delays. Rwanda really need this railway line.

Rayman87

May 28th, 2011, 03:49 PM

Ndolo urges East Africans to pool resources and bid to host 2030 World Cup.

Published on 03/05/2011

By Omulo Okoth

As the controversy over the hosting rights of 2018 and 2022 Fifa World Cup settles, a Kenyan personality plans to stir another hornets’ nest.

This time, it is about pooling resources by the East African nations to host the 2030 World Cup.

Reuben Ndolo, former MP for Makadara, and well-known sports personality, has floated an idea that will raise the stakes of hosting the world’s most followed sports competition.

While addressing participants at the Athi Water Services Football tournament at Canon Apollo Primary School in Mbotela on Monday, Ndolo urged East African regional leaders to pull resources and bid to host the 2030 World Cup.

"Multinational companies are willing to come on board and realise this dream for the East African people. Kenya should spearhead this initiative because that will be dovetail with the Vision 2030," said Ndolo.

"Leaders like (Rwanda President) Paul Kagame, Mwai Kibaki and Yoweri Museveni, who are known sports fans can take advantage of this opportunity to showcase East Africa. This is because going it alone as a country can be very expensive, but a joint initiative can work," said Ndolo.

Russia and Qatar will host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals, following controversial decisions that has left the global football governing body with body blows.

South Africa hosted the 2010 finals, the first time it came to Africa. Bidding for 2026 finals have not started, although the Iberian joint bid by Portugal and Spain, who failed in its bid for 2018 finals indicated they would go for it.

He said Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi can jointly bid for the World Cup, it can be realised.

Important circle

"Kenya will have completed a very important circle of modernizing infrastructure around the country, the target of Vision 2030, which plans to have modern stadia in all the eight provinces. The other East African nations are also developing their own infrastructrure. Fifa has completed a modern stadium in Dar es salaam and Rwanda is doing very well in this area," said Ndolo.

"International companies like LG, Coca-Cola and Kenya Airways are willing to come on board. Even companies with regional presence like Nakumatt and banks can be brought on board. This will bring economic boom to our region, which will have a spiraling effect on all aspects of life in the region besides working to seal the regional economic integration," he said.

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000034434&cid=38&story=Ndolo

^^

:lol::lol::lol:

ridiculous

xJamaax

May 28th, 2011, 04:03 PM

^^ Interesting.:lol:

In Kenya,we have the Vision 2030 Economic Plan. Maybe hosting the World Cup may boost the morale of working to achieve that plan.:dunno:

èđđeůx

May 28th, 2011, 07:09 PM

It's just too early to be calling to bid for something that's 19 years away.:lol:
Let's see how EAC nations do over the next ten years.

èđđeůx

July 16th, 2011, 01:41 AM

Bank's SMEs' initiative wins EAC support

The East African Development Bank (EADB) will get more support from the East African Community (EAC) member states to increase funding to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The bloc’s Secretary General Richard Sezibera said the bank would continue to play a critical role of providing long-term financial support that will anchor the components of regional integration.

He was speaking during a courtesy call at the bank’s headquarters in Kampala.

"We are now in the process of putting together the building blocks for integration, as we move towards a common market and a political federation. We also need to build the capacity to provide long term financing of infrastructure that will support the growth," Dr Sezibera said.

He added that the recent volatility of regional currencies was a clear indication that the EAC integration needs to be fast-tracked so that the region can better withstand both internal and external shocks to their economies. "Our currencies are vulnerable because our economies are also small and exposed. With this kind of situation, it makes it difficult to support cross border trade and transactions in financial instruments."

Since the coming into effect of the East Africa Common Market protocol in July last year, intra-regional trade has grown by over 52 per cent. It is expected that the commencement of a fully-fledged customs union.

He said the bloc’s target to achieve a monetary union, which is expected to come into effect by next year.

Dr Sezibera also confirmed that the EAC secretariat was in constant communication with member states concerning the volatile economic situation in the region.

"These concerns are discussed regularly by EAC Finance Ministers, Governors of respective central banks with a view to finding workable solutions," he said.
The Standard (http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000039006&cid=14&j=&m=&d=)

Xusein

October 9th, 2011, 06:32 AM

BUMP

EAC Can Be an Industrial Economy By 2020 - Sezibera
6 October 2011

The Secretary General of the East African Community, Dr. Richard Sezibera has said that with the right resolve and determination, the region can, within five years, realise a real economic upturn.

The Secretary General made the remarks, yesterday, while addressing the East African Investment Conference in Kigali, where he said that within this period, the region can move from the current five percent average GDP growth to 10 or 12 percent.

He also said that the bloc can easily shift from current per capita income of an average US$300 to at least US$700-US$1,000.

The Secretary General added that the region can be transformed from a largely agricultural and primary producer economy to an industrial based economy and achieve the status of a middle income economy by 2020.

Amb. Sezibera commended the support which the leadership in the region has always extended towards the promotion of trade and investment.

"Rwanda has been at the forefront of building confidence among the local and foreign investors to do business in our region.

"With practical commitment, Rwanda has championed the need to lower the costs of doing business in our region and, on the whole, establish a conducive environment for trade and investments in East Africa," he said.

The Secretary General cited decisive interventions such as removal or reduction of the numerous roadblocks along East African highways; harmonisation of axle load controls on East African roads; and other measures for elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers, which Rwanda has been very positive and supportive of.

"In a particularly bold and exemplary move, for instance, Rwanda has unilaterally relaxed work permit requirements for East African nationals seeking employment," said the Secretary General.

Sezibera informed the delegates that within a relatively short time, since the East African Community was re-launched in 2000, the regional bloc has transformed from a loose co-operation framework into a fast emerging, solid and dynamic regional grouping.

He pointed out that the EAC has developed strong institutions and vigorous programmes which are making an impact on the economies of member states.

In real growth terms, the Secretary General disclosed that the region's combined GDP has risen to US$74.5 billion presently, up from US$20 billion at the time of the EAC launch.

The East African Investment Conference is being held at a time when the bloc places emphasis on the promotion of trade and investments in the bloc through the collaboration of the private sector.

EAC has regularly held the annual EAC Investment Conferences since the first one in Kigali in 2008, which have greatly stimulated intra-regional as well as international trade and investment activities.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201110060009.html

èđđeůx

October 9th, 2011, 06:58 AM

^^When they hammer out all of the barriers since the launch of the common market and start issuing regional infrastructure bonds to fund road/rail upgrades and new power plants then I think that may be possible.

Rayman87

October 26th, 2011, 11:00 PM

Rwanda red flag over faltering EAC integration.

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/image/view/-/1260150/medRes/51428/-/maxw/600/-/qkxkbcz/-/AFR06_EASTAFRICA-INVESTMENT.jpg
Photo/FILE EAC Presidents at a past conference in Kigali. Picture: File

Though the East African Community secretariat maintains the integration process is on course, concerns are growing over delays and foot-dragging by some member states in the implementation of the agreement.

Rwanda has already raised the red flag over delays by EAC partner states in implementing the provisions of regional protocols.

The country is concerned by the delays in harmonising national laws and legislations in conformity with the EAC Common Market protocol, which has made implementation of the protocol difficult, and by the absence of reciprocity in the implementation process.

“The biggest challenge is that we are currently at different levels of implementation and not all partner states are implementing the provisions as required. Our concern is for the partner states to implement what we have agreed on at the regional level,” says Rwandan Minister for East African Affairs Monique Mukarulinza.

While the East African Community Customs Union was launched in 2005 in the three original partner states, the new members, Rwanda and Burundi, started implementing the Customs Union on July 1, 2009 after being admitted to the community in 2007.

Ms Mukarulinza says while the country has on its part fast tracked and accelerated the process of integration by amending its national laws as required, other states have been slow to act.

Apart from implementing the Customs Union and adopting the EAC budget calendar, Rwanda is amending its national laws to facilitate the regional integration agenda.

Kenya’s EAC Director of Economic Affairs, Richard Sindiga, agrees that challenges remain in the implementation process, citing the lack of harmonisation of fiscal policy as one of the reasons for the dissolution of the former EAC in 1977.

Mark Priestley, TradeMark East Africa country director for Rwanda, said despite the gains made by “landlocked” countries like Burundi and Rwanda from regional integration, the benefits were limited by the existence of non-tariff barriers (NTBs), which are still on the rise. The situation is worsened by the poor state of infrastructure in the region.

“A full 40 per cent of costs of imported retail goods are related to transport costs,” said Mr Priestley.

The landlocked countries are hardest hit by NTBs, a situation worsened by bad roads, delays at border crossings and lack of harmonised import and export procedures, all undermining the free movement of goods and people as provided for in the Common Market protocol.

Costs

Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi incur the greatest costs due to their distance from the main ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam.
“No tangible progress has been made in terms of removing NTBs along both the Northern and Central Corridors, which has kept Rwanda’s transport costs extremely high,” said Ms Mukarulinza.

Rwanda and Kenya are seen to be ahead of the pack in the implementation of some of the aspects of the agreement.

To bypass the hurdle over implementation of laws on movement of labour, Rwanda and Kenya signed a bilateral agreement to allow their citizens to move freely and seek employment in the two countries.

The landlocked country also amended its immigration laws to allow EAC citizens work and stay in the country.

“We fully opened our borders to members of the Community, giving them six months of stay, but when Rwandan citizens travel to some partner states they were given only three months,” Ms Mukarulinza told The East African, referring to the treatment of its citizens by Tanzania.

Some member countries have pointed fingers at Tanzania for what they refer to as its “stubbornness” in implementing rules touching on immigration and property ownership.

“Tanzania still feels that if it completely relaxes its immigration rules, foreigners from other member states will flood the country and take away citizens’ jobs and property,” said an East Africa Legislative Assembly MP, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Both Rwanda and Kenya are of the view that while they are trying hard to embrace all residents from member countries, their citizens face discrimination in some partner states.

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Rwanda+red+flag+over+faltering+EAC+integration+/-/2558/1260148/-/item/1/-/seg37hz/-/index.html

Rayman87

October 26th, 2011, 11:09 PM

^^
EAC can be such a big joke. Anyway, it was time that the Rwandan government clearly expresses his thoughts on EAC which slow the economic developemnt of Rwd rather than accelerating it.

xJamaax

October 27th, 2011, 12:26 AM

Both Rwanda and Kenya are of the view that while they are trying hard to embrace all residents from member countries, their citizens face discrimination in some partner states+1

Rayman87

November 28th, 2011, 03:10 PM

The Road Ahead for the East African Shilling

Article | 8 July 2011 - 12:08pm | By Avi Bram

http://thinkafricapress.com/sites/default/files/styles/400xy/public/003coin_scaled.jpg
The original East African Shilling was used between 1921 and 1969

Despite a target launch date of 2012, speedy progress is unlikely for the East African currency union.

If the East African Community's press releases are to be believed, there will be a single currency for the region by the end of next year. From April 26 to 30, a 'High Level Task Force' of senior officials from EAC member countries met in Mwanza, Tanzania, for negotiations on a monetary union treaty. At the third such meeting so far this year, it ended without a final text but with a structure firmly in place. A week later, the new EAC secretary general, former Rwandan health minister Dr. Richard Sezibera, declared that the organisation had "very strict deadlines on the Monetary Union," and that he would put an emphasis on ensuring that the member states reach agreement on schedule for a 2012 rollout.

The EAC has been impressive since it came into force in 1999. It started with a customs union between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, it then added Rwanda and Burundi as members in 2007, and on the 1st July 2010 it began operating a Common Market between all its members. This integration process has taken place despite Tanzanian fears of domination by its richer neighbour Kenyan (similar tensions led to the collapse of the original EAC in 1977). Regional trade and investment have flourished as a result; Uganda has overtaken Britain and Germany as Kenya's biggest trading partner, and Kenya has become Tanzania's second-largest foreign investor.

The impetus towards a single currency is both political and economic. The original EAC treaty envisaged that a single currency would follow the establishment of a Common Market, with political federation being the ultimate goal. As with European federalists, EAC enthusiasts see a single currency as a step towards an 'ever closer union'. The obvious benefit from an economic point of view is to lower transaction costs for trade and investment within the bloc, and to make the EAC a more attractive destination for outside investment, with a population of 126m and a $74.5bn economy.

The adoption of a single currency would require the creation of an EAC central bank, which would take monetary policy decisions on behalf of the entire bloc. This may provide another economic benefit: short-term policy manipulations (like printing money to pay government debts) would become much more difficult if they required co-ordination between five heads of state, so everyday decision-making power would probably shift from politicians to technocrats inside the new central bank. According to prevailing economic theory, this would have the advantage of making anti-inflation measures more credible, which would increase investor confidence.

The drawback to having a common central bank is that inpidual states would lose the flexibility to respond to economic shocks. A recent paper by Debrun, Masson and Pattillo provides a cost-benefit analysis of an EAC currency union, finding only a modest benefit for all member countries except Tanzania which receives no benefit.

But despite the vocal commitment to integration expressed by East African leaders, the practicalities militate against establishing a single currency within a year. Though the EAC officially has a Common Market, freedom of movement is only fully permitted between Kenya and Rwanda. All other countries have restrictions on the types of workers who are permitted to immigrate. There are also various capital restrictions that have been allowed to remain beyond 2012. In Burundi, 'personal capital transactions' and outward direct investment require central bank approval until 2014, whilst in Tanzania foreigners are banned from selling bonds and money market instruments until 2015. Such restrictions are incompatible with a single currency, yet there has been no official discussion of having them removed. Furthermore, convergence criteria have not been decided, and statistical collection methods have not been harmonised. No EAC member has yet come forward with the funds for a common central bank or financial regulatory body. It seems very unlikely that all this could be achieved by next year.

A long-term question mark over the prospects of an East African Shilling is the ability of its members to cope with a crisis. In the event of a Euro-style debt crisis, the EAC countries do not have the resources to bail out a member to prevent a banking collapse. A political stability crisis in any one member state would also have grave repercussions on the others. The violence following Kenya's 2007 election caused havoc for landlocked EAC members reliant on the port of Mombasa. The price of petrol in Uganda quadrupled from Sh 2,500 ($0.95) to Sh 10,000 ($3.8) per litre, and Rwanda introduced fuel rationing. If a future political crisis under a single currency were to frighten off foreign investors and tourists then this would cause an abrupt currency depreciation, which would increase the economic collateral damage by making imports even more expensive for all member states.

None of these obstacles are insurmountable given sufficient political will and herein lies the problem. Although many officials inside the EAC Secretariat are genuinely committed to further integration, national politicians are not. Giving up control of monetary policy may be supported by technocrats, but a larger scope to act in the economy, especially before elections, can be extremely useful to politicians.

In the past, regional leaders have paid lip service to integration projects that attract budget support from donors. The East African Shilling has the approval of the World Bank and EU donor nations, which may explain the apparent eagerness shown towards it by East African representatives. But Dr Nic Cheeseman, of Oxford University's African Studies Centre, argues that political leaders will not do anything that takes away their autonomy or requires significant investment in infrastructure. He claims that until those leaders become converted to a federalist vision, subsuming their national identities, the East African Shilling will be little more than 'creative imagining'.

http://thinkafricapress.com/economy/road-ahead-east-african-shilling

Rayman87

November 28th, 2011, 03:13 PM

^^

As i said more than once, a single currency in EAC is to be postponed until a real regional integration is fully done.

S.city

November 28th, 2011, 07:17 PM

China has entered into an agreement with the East African Community on economy, trade, investment and technical co-operation.

Officials said the parties, led by EAC Secretary General Richard Sezibera and China Vice Minister for Commerce Jiang Yaoping, discussed priority projects in infrastructure worth over $500 million

The agreement seeks to further open up opportunities for Sino-EAC trade, which in 2010 stood at nearly $4 billion, 39 per cent up from the previous year. In the period under review, Kenya alone saw the value of China's exports grow by 62 per cent bringing in $1.5 billion.

By September, China's investments in the EAC hit $750 millio in textiles, shoes, pharmaceuticals, industrial machinery, electronics and ICT.

In the past few months, EAC countries have signed deals with Chinese firms ranging from oil exploration to mining and infrastructure developments.

The new agreement is expected to increase trade and investment through promotion of the commodity trade, joint venture investments, infrastructure and human resource development

China and the EAC have also created a Joint Committee on Economy, Trade, Investment and Technical Co-operation (JCET) to spearhead the implementation of the agreement.

Mr Yaoping said that China hopes to raise its business investments in the region to $1,500 million by 2013 to stimulate economic growth.

At the trade talks, China and EAC placed emphasis on infrastructure development, an area in which the EAC has great interest and in which China has made big strides.

EAC proposed a number of priority projects which require funding, including the rehabilitation of the Arusha-Holili-Voi Road estimated to cost $566 million, improvement of public facilities (markets, parking bays for long distance drivers and emergency co-ordination) along the EAC Corridors, and feasibility as well as detailed engineering design studies for four priority roads in East Africa.

Chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers Hafsa Mossi said she looked forward to the EAC-China relationship moving from trade-related to investment- centred. (READ: Experts caution EAC states over Monetary Union)

èđđeůx

November 29th, 2011, 06:38 AM

^^

As i said more than once, a single currency in EAC is to be postponed until a real regional integration is fully done.

I think it's being rushed. 2015 sounds like a much better date, even better why not just gradually introduce with official use starting sometime around 2020? Currencies are no joke, slow and steady over speedy and sloppy.

èđđeůx

November 29th, 2011, 11:26 PM

EAC: The magic of a single EA tourist visa
IPP Media (http://www.ippmedia.com/)

Canadian tourist Deborah Mellon looks forward to the day she will pay a single visa to tour the five East African Community (EAC) member states of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

"I don't know how I would feel; mostly it will be a sense of relief to pay a single visa and be able to travel across all borders of East Africa," Mellon told the East African News Agency (EANA).

Like Mellon, a lot of people are anxiously waiting for the introduction of the singe visa: tour operators, hoteliers, business people, local tourists and international ones all have something to look forward to.

Therefore, the recent fourth meeting of the EAC Sectoral Council on Tourism and Wildlife Management, held in Mombasa, came as a relief to many as it reviwed progress on the establishment of a single EAC tourist visa.

Among other recommendations, the meeting urged the EAC partner states to fast-track the introduction of the single EAC tourist visa, which - once implemented - will not only greatly boost the region's tourism but will ease the financial strain faced by budget tourists who have to pay multiple visas.

The single visa will also encourage more tourists to visit the region, especially adventure tourists, those seeking exciting and memorable new experiences. The single visa will also mean marketing the EAC as a single tourist destination.

Every EAC country has something unique to offer. For example, Rwanda has the annual gorilla naming ceremony "Kwita izina" while Kenya boasts the annual Wildebeest migration in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. Both these and other attractions would be marketed together, after the adoption of a common marketing strategy.

However, budgetary allocations to tourism marketing by Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania show some disparity. Rwanda, for instance, invests about $5million annually and gets about $1billion, while Uganda invests $300,000 and gets $650million. Kenya injects $23 in marketing and reaps $3.5 billion annually. Tanzania allocates $10 million and earns $3.2billion.

Some pertinent questions, therefore, beg answers. Will the countries' tourism marketing budgets be harmonized? Who stands to gain from the single visa? Jean Pierre Kamanzi, a tour operator in Kigali, told EANA that for every tourist, opportunities open up for several people across the region in other economic sectors.

“When a tourist visits Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, for example, it benefits transporters, hoteliers, tour operators, artisans, supermarkets and even farmers,” Kamanzi said.

What a single visa requires

The campaign to have a single EAC visa followed a call by tourism boards in the EAC partner states for the speeding up of the promotion of the region as a single tourist destination.

The single visa requires that partner states should first put in place the necessary infrastructure to facilitate tourists wishing to visit the five-member bloc using the EAC tourist visa system.

Monique Mukaruliza, Rwanda’s Minister of East African Community Affairs, said the EAC countries also need to put in place the legal framework to facilitate the initiative, adding that Rwanda has already put in place the measures necessary for the establishement of a single EAC tourist visa.

“We need to have the required equipment that will allow partner states to exchange security data to ensure there are no fake visas,” Mukaruliza said.

Rayman87

November 30th, 2011, 11:52 AM

Will the countries' tourism marketing budgets be harmonized?

There's no need to harmonise the budgets. Each country must have his own agenda in what kind of tourism they want to offer. Therefore, decide the amount of money to allocate to the sector.
Or at least, have two budgets for tourism. One made by the countries on their own and one for attracting tourists in the region.
But the idea is good, specially for the landlocked countries where tourists tend to visite the three as a whole.
Too bad that again, even in this article talking about EAC, nobody talks about Burundi. There's a real untapped tourism economy there.

èđđeůx

December 5th, 2011, 04:16 AM

what is this about:??:sly::ohno::wtf:

Tanzania slaps 25% tariff on Ugandan exports
New Vision (http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/314647-tanzania-slaps-25-tariff-on-ugandan-exports.html)

SEVERAL Ugandan companies involved in manufacturing and exports of finished products are crying foul after Tanzania recently imposed a 25% tariff on manufactured goods entering its borders.

The new measures that were announced last week have pushed Ugandan manufacturers exporting into Tanzania to pay a 25% Common External Tariff (CET).

Uganda won concessions from her East African partners in the regional integration process to continue exempting its manufacturers from paying import duty on a list of 135 industrial inputs when the CET initially came into force in 2005.

Like the duty remission scheme, the list was supposed to lapse at the end of last year (2010) but was extended after sustained pressure from the countries’ industrialists.

Exemption period

“Uganda got an extension of the exemption to the end of June next year. During this period the status quo is likely to remain so that manufacturers in Tanzania and other partners are not disadvantaged,” said a Tanzanian Revenue Authority (TRA) official.

During the negotiation period for the EAC Customs Union, Uganda requested for a transition period of five years to enable the manufacturers enhance their capacity towards raw materials and intermediate products so as to remain competitive in the region.

At the time of the negotiations, Uganda had the lowest applied tariff rates in the region standing at 0%, 7% and 15% for raw materials, intermediate products and finished, manufactured products respectively.

The five-year transition period was meant to allow for the elevation of the infrastructure bottlenecks and for the removal of the Non-Tariff Barriers along the trade route.

Stuck goods

But the new measure has left goods destined for Tanzania grounded at Port Bell in Luzira, Kampala. The Mukwano Group of Companies, which exports tones of detergent, laundry soap, petroleum jelly, edible cooking oil and plastics monthly, has been hit most.

Last week, containers that were destined for Tanzanian ports of Bukoba and Mwanza on Lake Victoria were offloaded from the ship at Port Bell due to the exorbitant new tariff.

Petition

However, in a meeting held at the Ministry of East African Community Affairs last Friday, attended by officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Uganda Manufacturers Association, Private Sector Foundation, Uganda Revenue Authority and the manufacturers, a resolution was made to petition the new tariff imposed by Tanzania.

The manufacturers described the tariff as retrogressive to the spirit of the EAC integration since it inhibits rather than promotes trade between the members of the customs union.

“We agreed that the EAC and URA write to the Tanzanian officials rejecting the new measures. The letter will be written on Monday,” said an official from Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) who attended the meeting.

Tanzanian Revenue Authority (TRA) officials on Sunday told New Vision from Dar-es-Salaam, that the new measure was a policy issue, which could only be resolved at higher levels.

mwanamwiwa

December 5th, 2011, 04:26 AM

:|

Ugandan manufacturers are now a threat?Protectionism wont work,the Tanzanian market needs these proucts and its them who will pay high prices for otherwise cheaper products.The EAC will not wait for Tz to harmonize the required protocols,pity them trying to hold out for more concessions.

bantugbro

December 5th, 2011, 11:50 AM

The time for baby siting is over...Uganda businesses and the rest must start to pay tax now, no more free rides (free land, free entry, next time they will demand free women:ohno:)

MARK_S

December 5th, 2011, 01:34 PM

The time for baby siting is over...Uganda businesses and the rest must start to pay tax now, no more free rides (free land, free entry, next time they will demand free women:ohno:)

free land, free entry, next time they will demand free women??? hahahaha!:hahaha: please!dont break my ribs!!

èđđeůx

December 5th, 2011, 01:42 PM

what exactly does the common market call for? tariffs be lifted on __% of all goods? Or are certain goods exempt from it?:? Someone enlighten me, and please with facts not blind-sided BS like in that tz-kenya thread.

The time for baby siting is over...Uganda businesses and the rest must start to pay tax now, no more free rides (free land, free entry, next time they will demand free women:ohno:)

baby sitting? did you even bother to read the article before posting such a stupid comment?

Uganda had the lowest tariff rates in the region during negotiations for customs union. We can assume, as in I haven't heard of the gov't increasing its tariff rates, that the nation has kept its tariff rates steady meaning that imports from Kenya, TZ, Rwanda and Burundi are all taxed at 7% & 15% for non-raw materials.

popa1980

December 6th, 2011, 12:32 AM

Terrible move.

mwanamwiwa

December 6th, 2011, 03:15 PM

Terrible move.

Funny thing is,Tanzanian products enjoy lower tarriffs in the region.

mwanamwiwa

December 6th, 2011, 03:18 PM

The time for baby siting is over...Uganda businesses and the rest must start to pay tax now, no more free rides (free land, free entry, next time they will demand free women:ohno:)

Like I said before,have some respect for Tanzania and stop ridiculing yourselves.Who did you give free land or entry?

bantugbro

December 6th, 2011, 04:51 PM

Naijaborn

December 6th, 2011, 06:43 PM

:lol:..... Making me think the entire EAC thing isn't even going to work.

mwanamwiwa

December 6th, 2011, 07:55 PM

:lol:..... Making me think the entire EAC thing isn't even going to work.

It will without Tanzania and the status quo between member states and Tanzania wont change.

Please stop moaning you two (you know who you are)....Tarrif-slap on more goods is on the way. We need to construct more classrooms for our children, we really appreciate if you understand that. We don't mind if you reciprocate the move...

^^ Dumbass of the week.

bantugbro

December 7th, 2011, 10:09 AM

It will without Tanzania and the status quo between member states and Tanzania wont change.

^^ Dumbass of the week.

You will know the Moemish:lol:

bantugbro

December 7th, 2011, 10:12 AM

Tanzania to produce generic ARVs by 2012
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/image/view/-/661808/highRes/102960/-/maxw/600/-/5d2iki/-/arvs.jpg
Some of the anti-retroviral drugs available in the market

Posted Sunday, December 4 2011 at 10:57
TANZANIA HAS completed a multi million-dollar plant for manufacturing generic antiretroviral drugs, giving hope for cheaper medicine to nearly four million HIV patients in East Africa.

Fears loom over the expected EU-India Free Trade Agreement that could seriously jeopardise access to affordable generic ARVs from India. However, the new plant will produce a minimum of 100 million tablets a year serving 100,000 patients. The $8.4 million factory in Arusha will start commercial production of the drugs in January 2012.

The Tanzania Pharmaceutical Industries plant has been established under the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement, which allows least developed countries to produce essential drugs without introducing pharmaceutical product patents until 2016.

The ARV plant is funded by Tanzania Pharmaceutical Industries, the European Commission and Action Medeor, a German medical Aid Organisation.

Once commercial production starts in January next year, the generic drug will cost people living with HIV/Aids $10 less for their monthly dosage. Currently, imported generic ARVs cost nearly $30, whereas the local generic ARVs will cost $20 for a monthly dosage of two tablets per day.

Some provisions of the EU-India FTA under negotiation, seek to impose higher standards of intellectual property protection that would limit, and in some cases completely bar India from producing generic ARVs and other essential medicines.

Available records show that 92 per cent of people living with HIV on treatment in low and middle-income countries currently use generic ARVs, mostly manufactured in India.

For example, Medicines Sans Frontieres buys 80 per cent of its Aids medicines from Indian companies.

Some 90 per cent of Aids drugs provided to 13 countries by Pepfar-the US President’s global Aids programme-are generics, the overwhelming majority of them also produced in India.

Source:
www.thecitizen.co.tz

Zimbobeauty

December 7th, 2011, 10:40 AM

^^ good news!!

BUTEMBO21

December 7th, 2011, 02:52 PM

BUTEMBO21

December 7th, 2011, 02:58 PM

:lol:..... Making me think the entire EAC thing isn't even going to work.
:lol:
I thought they already pass that stage.

Rayman87

December 7th, 2011, 03:29 PM

:lol:..... Making me think the entire EAC thing isn't even going to work.

+ 1000

EAC should be nothing more than an economic zone. At least until 2030-2035.
These guys confuse precipitation with speed.

BUTEMBO21

December 7th, 2011, 04:15 PM

+ 1000

EAC should be nothing more than an economic zone. At least until 2030-2035.
These guys confuse precipitation with speed.

Exactly.

They are in a rush like they are about to catch to someone.

kiligoland

December 7th, 2011, 04:17 PM

Exactly.

They are in a rush like they are about to catch to someone.

:lol:

boiyo

December 7th, 2011, 06:18 PM

Exactly.

They are in a rush like they are about to catch to someone.

you should not be worried about East Africa; leave this for east Africans to figure out. You have a lot to worry, list of which is whether you will have country to call home or not.:)

nairoberry

December 7th, 2011, 08:43 PM

you should not be worried about East Africa; leave this for east Africans to figure out. You have a lot to worry, list of which is whether you will have country to call home or not.:)

hahaha....take it easy on our congolese friend

BUTEMBO21

December 7th, 2011, 09:16 PM

you should not be worried about East Africa; leave this for east Africans to figure out. You have a lot to worry, list of which is whether you will have country to call home or not.:)

:lol:

Your my neighbor. your business, is my business, the better EAC is good business for me. So , don't worry, i'm Not going anywhere, not soon, not ever.

mwanamwiwa

December 7th, 2011, 09:18 PM

you should not be worried about East Africa; leave this for east Africans to figure out. You have a lot to worry, list of which is whether you will have country to call home or not.:)

+ 1

èđđeůx

December 7th, 2011, 10:52 PM

Exactly.

They are in a rush like they are about to catch to someone.

:laugh: Well I do think they're rushing on the currency. June 2012, that's just unrealistic.

Zimbobeauty

December 7th, 2011, 11:13 PM

:lol:

Your my neighbor. your business, is my business, the better EAC is good business for me. So , don't worry, i'm Not going anywhere, not soon, not ever.

:lol:

BUTEMBO21

December 8th, 2011, 12:08 AM

:laugh: Well I do think they're rushing on the currency. June 2012, that's just unrealistic.

What? 2012? good luck o them though.

MARK_S

December 8th, 2011, 02:35 PM

you should not be worried about East Africa; leave this for east Africans to figure out. You have a lot to worry, list of which is whether you will have country to call home or not.:)

.....in here:hahaha:......this is a new comedy ground.....what a thread?? :hahaha:

...as the matter of fact, BUTEMBO21 is officially a Tanzanian! He is one of our own.....and he is so much welcomed, always!:cheers:

MARK_S

December 8th, 2011, 02:37 PM

Exactly.

They are in a rush like they are about to catch to someone.

..hahahaha :hahaha:! they are fuckin' mad! :hahaha::lol:

Mkenyasili

December 8th, 2011, 09:40 PM

Tanzania to produce generic ARVs by 2012

Loliondo????? :? :rofl:

:jk:

xJamaax

December 8th, 2011, 09:56 PM

^^ Loliondo.:hilarious

mwanamwiwa

December 8th, 2011, 10:41 PM

:lol:

bantugbro

December 9th, 2011, 03:27 PM

Loliondo????? :? :rofl:

:jk:

Loliondo.

:lol:

Habari ndio hiyo:) Karibuni sana:cheers:

xJamaax

December 9th, 2011, 10:56 PM

:laugh: Well I do think they're rushing on the currency. June 2012, that's just unrealistic.
The good thing with EAC is that it's small and so the integration issues can be dealt with faster if the members are willing to adhere to the rules and regulations.

Kenya,Uganda and Rwanda normally dont have problems. If other members were like them in terms of attitude, things would have moved much at a faster pace.

xJamaax

December 9th, 2011, 11:01 PM

Habari ndio hiyo:) Karibuni sana:cheers:

Sawa asante!Nimependezwa na mradi huu wa kutengeneza ARV.:)

kiligoland

December 11th, 2011, 01:40 PM

ila kuna watu wana dharau :nuts:

mwanamwiwa

December 11th, 2011, 04:08 PM

Please stop moaning you two (you know who you are)....Tarrif-slap on more goods is on the way. We need to construct more classrooms for our children, we really appreciate if you understand that. We don't mind if you reciprocate the move...

I think you do.....

Getting the cold shoulder.

A huge question mark has been curved by the conspicuous absence of four Heads of State of the five-member East African Community (EAC), at celebrations to commemorate the 50th independence anniversary of co-member Tanzania, held in Dar es Salaam on Friday.

Observers are puzzled over whether the absence was a normal occurrence or a big snub of the country, and specifically its leader, President Jakaya Kikwete.

Tanzania’s regional partners were represented by high-profile representatives, but their below-presidential ranks raised eyebrows, as observers feel that, the top-most leaders should have attended in person, as a demonstration of solidarity.

Withholding the gesture has raised speculations, considering, especially, that, unlike relatively lighter events like witnessing the investiture of a president after an election or re-election, Tanzania was marking 50 long years of nationhood. Plus, there has been nothing to suggest that any of the presidents in the neighbourhood had travelled abroad, or had been tied up by too hugely taxing domestic commitments, to spare a day or two off to give a close neighbour company at the latter’s momentous event.

President Kikwete’s colleagues in the EAC are Mr Mwai Kibaki (Kenya), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Paul Kagame (Rwanda) and Pierre Nkurunzinza of Burundi.

Out of 14 Presidents who were reportedly invited to attend the golden jubilee, only five turned up but they were mainly drawn from the South Africa Development Corporation block, of which Tanzania is a member.

The guest presidents were Namibia’s Mr Hifikepunye Pohamba, Armando Guebuza of Mozambique, Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania and Ikililou Dhoinine of Comoros.

Kenya and Burundi sent their Vice Presidents Mr Kalonzo Musyoka and Mr Therence Simunguruza respectively, while Uganda and Rwanda were represented by Prime Ministers Messers Amama Mbabazi and Bernald Makuza, respectively. North Korea, Gambia and Botswana were also represented.

From as early as when official entourages sneaked their way into the Uhuru stadium that hosted the celebrations, curious observers begun circulating SMS messages enquiring why not a single EAC President had shown up.

A majority of them appeared to suggest that the absence of the other top men at a time when the momentum for East African political federation seemed to be building up, was not positive, or at least sent the wrong signal.

Efforts to get comments on the issue from local government officials, as well as those of the other EAC member countries didn’t yield results, as phone calls and email messages went unanswered.

However, opinion was sharply divided among a cross section of people who volunteered their views. And separately on the social forums, commentators wondered if the other EAC member states were sidelining Tanzania, as a silent demonstration of misgivings over its hard-line position toward formation of the envisaged federation.

Last week, President Kikwete and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame skipped a regional heads of state summit in Bujumbura, Burundi, that was attended by the other three presidents. They each sent junior-ranked representatives.

The Speaker of National Assembly Ms Anne Makinda also skipped a parallel meeting of all regional Speakers and did not even send a representative.

But during the summit, Tanzania caused uneasiness, by boycotting the final signing event of the ministerial committee on two important protocols on the Political Integration and Defence Cooperation. It was protesting over the inclusion of land and security matters in the two protocols.

Even though the country finally endorsed the protocols the following day, it forced amendments that had first to be endorsed by the Presidents present.
Kigoma North MP Mr Zitto Kabwe yesterday said he was apprehensive of the absence from the Uhuru fete by the four EAC Presidents. “Diplomatically it was not a good sign for Tanzania….I believe it must have had something to do with the way we carried ourselves in Bujumbura,” said the Chadema MP and deputy leader of official opposition in Parliament.

According to the MP, Tanzania’s hard line stance on some of the regional issues may have not gone down well with the other countries. “You cannot rule out the possibility that they are not happy with the way we run our diplomacy. Mr Samuel Sitta should come out and explain,” said Mr Kabwe.

He warned that Tanzania may be going the UK way over integration issues.
His position was shared by a distinguished political commentator, Prof Mwesiga Baregu of St. Augustine University, who observed that Tanzania portrayed a negative image in Burundi. “The miss on Friday may be just one sign of annoyance with us.”

The prof who attended the Burundi meeting, said: “My worry is that the rest of EAC states look at Tanzania as the stumbling block and may begin to isolate it.” He said it was time the government decided to move on like the rest or ditch the whole integration plan, warning that the countries may take a decision similar to that of the EU where slow reformers were not allowed to hold others back.

But the University of Dar es Salaam’s Political Science and Public Administration Lecturer, Dr Benson Bana, said nothing much should be read into the matter.

He said the mere fact that the neighbouring countries sent delegations showed that the spirit of the EAC was alive.
According to Dr Bana, President Museveni was in the country not long ago. He however admitted that the country may be sidelined by other EAC member states.

According to Bana, Tanzania may not want to fast-track the political federation owing to its experience in the Union of the republic of Tanzania and the need to protect other national interests.

A nother senior lecturer of the University of Dar es Salaam, Dr. Azaveli Lwaitama, on his part also said that Tanzania was not on the right track when it comes to matters of the EAC political federation but stated that this may not have any link with the failure by the presidents in question to attend the ceremony.

The Citizen Reporter
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/componen...ebrations.html

bantugbro

December 11th, 2011, 07:15 PM

I think you do.....

Getting the cold shoulder.

Good attempt, EAC yes, free LAND no...:)

BUTEMBO21

December 11th, 2011, 09:03 PM

No freeland. They will try to get from South-Sudan.

bantugbro

December 11th, 2011, 10:51 PM

President Kikwete lays foundation for Military Academy library

http://www.arushatimes.co.tz/images/693/692%20kikwete%201.jpg
President Jakaya Kikwete at the Tanzania Military Academy in Monduli.

By Staff Reporter

The Commander-in-Chief for Tanzania’s Armed forces, President Jakaya Kikwete officially inaugurated the construction of a library facility at the Tanzania Military Academy in Monduli last weekend.

President Kikwete laid the foundation stone for the modern two-floor building to be constructed at the TMA base, shortly after he commissioned a total of 506 Officers at the Monduli-based military training facility, over the weekend.

Being undertaken by SUMA National Service (JKT), the construction project, which is expected to be completed in July 2012 will cost over 1.43 billion/- up to its finishing point, according to Captain Zablon Mahengi the JKT Construction Manager in the Northern Zone.

The army Library project in Monduli had stalled for a while because the Tanzania People’s Defense Force had previously intended to construct a single storey building but later changed the plan to accommodate the current two-floor premises.
Earlier on President Kikwete had graced the commissioning ceremony of Officers Cadets Course with a total of 506 graduates, among them 437 male cadets and 69 female officers.

The TMA Commandant, Brigadier General Vincent Mritaba, revealed that the 506 officer cadets who were graduating at Monduli hold different professions including, Mass Communication, Administration, Journalism, Accounts, Agriculture, Engineering, Law, History and Culture, Materials and Supply as well as Environmental Sciences.

In addition to awarding best cadet trainees at the parade square, President Kikwete, who was accompanied by the Minister for Defence and National Service Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi, and the founding commandant the Military academy, General Mirisho Sarakikya posed for photos with groups of graduating officers before joining them for lunch at the base.

It was the second commissioning of the year 2011. Last January, President Jakaya Kikwete attended the graduation of 425 other officer cadets from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Lesotho at the Tanzania Military Academy.

This is Tanzania's top military training institution where President Kikwete, after successfully completing a similar course, was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1976.

He also undertook Company Commander's Course in 1983 at the same academy. In his military career, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

From 1984 to 1986, President Kikwete was Chief Political Instructor and Political Commissar at the Military Academy.

Before the establishment of TMA, Tanzania used to send its military personnel to be trained in Israel, India, Egypt, Sudan, Russia and in the United Kingdom but today the Monduli-based academy has grown to become one of the most respected and reliable military academy in the world, catering for officers from various countries and continents.

The historical background of the Academy dates way back to 1970, when the first Officer Cadet School (OCS) was established at Kurasini in Dar es Salaam.

In 1972, institution for party cadres was established in Monduli district, some 40 kilometres west of Arusha town and 8km south of the current TMA location.

This institution which went by the name "Party Cadres Military School (PCMS) was charged with the task of training middle and high ranking Party and Government functionaries with the aim of improving and strengthening their leadership, command qualities and articulations

Source:
http://www.arushatimes.co.tz/front%20page_3.html

BUTEMBO21

December 12th, 2011, 02:53 AM

Tanzania = EAC Alpha and Omega.

èđđeůx

December 12th, 2011, 03:45 AM

The good thing with EAC is that it's small and so the integration issues can be dealt with faster if the members are willing to adhere to the rules and regulations.

Kenya,Uganda and Rwanda normally dont have problems. If other members were like them in terms of attitude, things would have moved much at a faster pace.

But....june...2012...that's like 6 months away!:nuts:

anyways that reminds me, about a few weeks ago when I was practicing for one of my speech & debate tournaments, I got a topic about the EAC. "Would it be in the EAC's best interest to adapt a common currency?".....I didn't have many printed resources for it, but from what I did have I said yeah, but I left out the by June 2012 part.:lol:

mwanamwiwa

December 12th, 2011, 10:33 AM

Tanzania = EAC Alpha and Omega.

:lol:

Butembo you are a retarded.If you think otherwise explain to us how they are the ''Alpha and Omega''.

bantugbro

December 12th, 2011, 03:45 PM

Loliondo????? :? :rofl:
:jk:

TFDA labs get foreign drug test requests
BY PIUS RUGONZIBWA, 6th December 2011 @ 14:59, Total Comments: 0, Hits: 274

DRUGS Laboratories of the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TDFA) are now receiving international tenders for drug tests hardly a year after accreditation by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The TFDA Director of Laboratory Services, Ms Charys Ugullum told the 'Daily News' on Tuesday that so far tenders have been received from Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, Ghana, Mozambique and Kenya.

"The countries come to us because they do not have WHO accredited laboratories," said Ms Ugullum.

She was speaking at the Mwalimu Nyerere International Trade Fair grounds along Kilwa Road in Dar es Salaam where government ministries and institutions are showcasing their products and services in commemoration of 50 years of independence.

Drug tests have already been done for Zambia, Rwanda and Zanzibar while Ghana, Mozambique and Kenya have requested tender quotations, she said.

"This is tremendous success for our country as we celebrate 50 years of independence. We hope to keep providing more internationally recognized services," she said.

Ironically, while countries seek TFDA services, only two local drug firms, namely Keko Manufacturers Ltd and TanzaSinno, out of eight, have approached the Authority for certification of their products.

Ms Ugullum said the Authority expects to receive accreditation for its Food and Microbiology Laboratory from the Southern Africa Development Accredited System (SADCAS) based in Botswana, before the end of this financial year.

The accreditation will enable the Authority earn more income.

TFDA Director of Food Safety, Mr Raymond Wigenge said the Authority plans to carry out a country-wide food borne disease surveillance and investigations, following conclusion of a pilot project in three regions.

The investigations was carried out in Dodoma, Manyara and Singida in 2009.

"It is an expensive exercise but we hope to start working on it during the next financial year," he said.

Source:
http://www.dailynews.co.tz/home/?n=26169

alama

December 13th, 2011, 01:28 AM

èđđeůx

December 13th, 2011, 02:39 AM

^^tell me about it, instead of importing from India just produce there for TZ and the EAC market.

alama

December 13th, 2011, 03:18 AM

Sorry, I did not read the whole article, just the title. I thought that the factory would actually produce the anti-AIDS drugs instead of importing.

bantugbro

December 13th, 2011, 09:03 AM

Sorry, I did not read the whole article, just the title. I thought that the factory would actually produce the anti-AIDS drugs instead of importing.

The drugs will produced locally in Arusha Tanzania...

....The $8.4 million factory in Arusha will start commercial production of the drugs in January 2012...

MARK_S

December 18th, 2011, 08:22 PM

:cheers::cheers:

MARK_S

December 24th, 2011, 03:31 PM

No boss in EAC bloc, thanks to Dar’s stubborn ways
http://www.africareview.com/Blogs/No+boss+in+EAC+bloc+thanks+to+Dars+stubborn+ways+/-/979192/1292034/-/view/asBlogPost/-/ystpxaz/-/index.html

If you ask any non-Tanzanian East African which country is the stumbling block to regional integration, the answer will come fast and furious – Tanzania.

One of the low points in Tanzania’s supposedly East African Community-wrecking ways, came at the recent EAC summit meetings at the end of November in the Burundi capital, Bujumbura.

Ministers from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda signed an agreement for the establishment of the East African Community Political Federation. Tanzania decided not to. Fair enough.

But it did so dramatically. It decided to leave its seat at the signing ceremony empty and yawning. However, it eventually signed a few days later.

But it is what happened in the closed meetings of the EAC Council of Ministers that still has tongues wagging. The EAC has been working on an East African mutual defence pact.

When they met in Bujumbura all the partners states had pushed the pact through their Cabinets, their armies, and attorneys-general.

Tanzania had two ministers at the Council meeting. During the discussions, Tanzania was emphatic that under no circumstances, should the pact be allowed to drag other EAC countries into an unjustified war started by a belligerent member.

As the ministers moved to sign up on the pact, something unprecedented happened. Permanent Secretaries don’t sit in the Council of Ministers’ meeting, but they are sometimes called in, in very technical sessions.

The Permanent Secretary in Tanzania’s delegation, got up, grabbed the microphone, and announced that Tanzania was not signing on. That the position the Tanzanian ministers leading the delegation had accepted “was not Tanzania’s position.”

The Tanzanian ministers were embarrassed, fidgeted, and tried to smile their way out of the mess. Yet, even with all that, one of the best things that has happened to the EAC is Tanzania’s so-called obstructionism.

If it hadn’t been because of Tanzania, the EAC would probably have a Monetary Union and a political federation by now. Because they would have been put together hurriedly without the hard, long, and frustrating negotiation and debate that these things require, the EAC would probably have collapsed by 2015.

Tanzania’s stubbornness has forced the EAC to pay attention to detail, and to pause and take in everyone’s views – something most, if not all, EAC leaders don’t do back home where their word is law.

In the process, the EAC is the most thought-through regional co-operation bloc, and the most democratic in Africa. In the West African bloc ECOWAS, Nigeria calls the shots.

In Southern Africa’s SADC, South Africa is boss. Tanzania is a member of SADC, and in an honest moment a government official in Dar es Salaam said that in “SADC we are sometimes treated like second class members.”

In EAC, there is no boss. Everyone is equal. For all these reasons, the EAC will endure. If Tanzania is really anti-EAC, then it has done the very opposite. Its intransigence is producing an organisation it cannot afford not to be part of.

Charles Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group’s executive editor for Africa & Digital Media. E-mail: cobbo@ke.nationmedia.com. Twitter: @cobbo3

Rayman87

December 26th, 2011, 10:48 PM

A kind of "guess what will happen if" article.

EAST AFRICA IN 2050: THE SCENARIOS

SCENARIO 1: THE WATER POWERS

The first force driving border changes could be water and fuel. Virtually all the countries in the region, except Tanzania, face serious water stress in the next few years. Kenya is the most stressed: each Kenyan only has 636 cubic metres of water a year, compared with 1,270 cubic metres in Uganda and 2,035 in Tanzania. As a rule of thumb, hydrologists consider 2,000 cubic metres per person per year as the point when a country is considered “water-stressed”, and 1,000 cubic metres as when the situation is critical, and a country is “water-scarce”. So Kenya is “finished”. Water scarcity is likely to hit Uganda by 2035, and water stress will hit the country even earlier, by the year 2020. At the present rate of deforestation, it is predicted that Uganda is likely to be importing fuel wood by 2020. Nairobi water demand stands at 750,000 cubic metres a day against a supply capacity of 530,000 cubic metres. It is projected that the daily demand in 2020 will stand at 1.6 million cubic metres and climb to 2.2 million cubic metres by 2030. So Nairobi City could collapse. In this scenario, the most successful countries will be the water-rich ones or those that have been smart at environmental management: In this scenario, Rwanda and a resurgent DR Congo could eat up Uganda; and Tanzania will become the regional superpower, swallowing most of Kenya. South Sudan will take a chunk of Kenyan and Ethiopian territory.

SCENARIO 2: THE DEMOCRACY POWERS

The future of most East African nations is uncertain, because the political elite have not arrived at a long-term deal on power sharing and enshrined it in a constitution. As a result, the regimes in Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan and Ethiopia all today still need to call out the army or special forces to beat back the opposition. The only country, paradoxically, that has solved this problem is Kenya. It is the only nation in the sub region where, in the past two years, the power class has worked itself into a position where it can hold power through trickery, patronage, and sweet-talking without bringing out the army.
In July this year, Kenya’s government became the first in Africa — and one of the first in the world — to be completely data open. It has a level of openness on government data that is higher than the US’s. If it can leverage all these into political dividends and the other nations don’t sort themselves out quickly, it is easy to see Kenya becoming a Democracy Top Dog and swallowing half of South Sudan, most of Uganda, and a chunk of Tanzania to become a mind-bogglingly expanded nation.

SCENARIO 3: THE RESOURCE POWERS (ENERGY & MINERALS)

When it comes to resources, Kenya does badly, as do Rwanda and Burundi, and Somalia. Rwanda’s main resource is natural gas, with 56 billion cubic metres of natural gas reserves. The resource king in the region is DRC. According to a recent report by Africa Business, the country has $24 trillion worth of untapped mineral deposits, which is equivalent to the GDP of Europe and the United States combined. The DRC has the world’s largest reserves of cobalt and significant quantities of the world’s diamonds, gold and copper. This makes the DRC potentially the richest country in the world. Then there is Tanzania. It has gold reserves of 45 million ounces, and is currently the third-largest gold producer in Africa. A recent geological survey revealed 209 million tonnes of nickel reserves, 50.9 million carats of diamond, and 103 million tonnes of iron ore, as well as 6.5 billion cubic metres of natural gas. Uganda is oil rich, with 1.5 billion barrels of oil reserves. South Sudan too has 3.5 billion - 5 billion barrels of oil reserves.

In this scenario, Tanzania will ingest Burundi, Uganda and DRC would eat Rwanda for lunch, and Kenya would all but disappear, being carved up between Uganda, Tanzania, and South Sudan. Ethiopia would, largely, remain intact.

SCENARIO 4: THE TECHNOLOGY POWERS

Despite lack of natural resources, a country can rise to power through innovation and becoming a leader in science and industry (as Japan teaches us). In East Africa today, the two nations investing heavily in technology innovation are Kenya and Rwanda. Kenya is now dubbed “the Silicon Savannah”.

Rwanda is also investing in IT education, and public health care like no other East African nation. Kenya’s private sector medical industry is years ahead of its peers. Kenya’s innovative capacity is ranked an impressive 52nd globally [third in Africa after Tunisia at 49th and South Africa at 51st], with high company spending on R&D and good scientific research institutions that collaborate well with the business sector in research activities (Global Competitiveness Report 2011/12, Word Economic Forum). The Global Competitiveness Report also showed Kenya with the second highest number of utility patents (i.e. patents for innovation) granted in sub-Saharan Africa, and fifth in Africa if you include Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria, at 0.02 patents per million of the population, which translates into 800,000 patents.

Kenyan operator Safaricom became the first-ever telecom company to create a mass mobile-banking service, setting industry standards now being copied from California to Kabul. By May of this year, Ushahidi, a crowd-sourcing platform developed in Nairobi in early 2008, which is free to download, had been used 14,000 times in 128 countries to map everything from last year’s earthquake in Haiti to this year’s Japanese tsunami and the Arab Spring.

If technology, innovation and the development of the health industry are the future, then Kenya and Rwanda will chew up Uganda, and Rwanda will gobble up Burundi and a large swathe of eastern DRC. A large part of Tanzania, and South Sudan would become Kenya territory. Interestingly, this is probably the only scenario where Somalia survives. It’s a fairly innovative country in communications, so it will survive. It will be reunited with Somaliland and Puntland, and take in the Somali/Ogaden of Ethiopia.

SCENARIO 5: THE ENERGY-AND-FOOD-HUNGRY MILITARY POWERS

The next group of winners could be countries that reasonably stabilise their internal politics, grow their economies and build strong militaries, but have no food and energy to run on. These countries will take account of the rich ones that have resources, but are disorganised, have weak militaries, and chaotic politics.

In this scenario, Rwanda will thrive. Uganda might just get by, but not enough to grow out much. Burundi might survive. Kenya, whose real military strength, it emerges, has been grossly underestimated from what we are learning from its Somalia campaign and with an interesting new political order, will thrive as well as Rwanda. Ethiopia too will do quite well. There are questions about Tanzania in this picture, as there are about South Sudan, and Somalia is a write off. So, Rwanda will expand and absorb DR Congo and its resources. Burundi too will expand considerably into the DR Congo and parts of Tanzania. There will be a small portion of DRC left that Uganda will pick up. Uganda will also pick up a little of South Sudan, but most of it will go Ethiopia and Kenya. Kenya and Ethiopia will divvy up Somalia. Kenya might get a little bite of Tanzania. Whatever the case, Tanzania will shrink.

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/-/2558/1291160/-/ngqlltz/-/index.html

bantugbro

December 27th, 2011, 07:17 PM

http://groups.google.com/group/usaafricadialogue/browse_thread/thread/760ac8093a8b7eba/71c6316ea66ab7e3?#71c6316ea66ab7e3

FYI: Download from the blue box below or listen directly on BBC:

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Ruth Evans <ruth@...>
To: Ruth Evans <ruth@...>
Sent: Sun, October 10, 2010 10:13:53 PM
Subject: Radio 4 - Africa at 50: The Wind of Change

This year is very special for Africa: Seventeen African states that gained political independence in 1960 are celebrating 50 years of existence as self-governing nation-states. And the number of countries gaining independence was to double over the next three years, as the wind of change swept through Africa. In Africa at 50: The wind of Change, Tanzanian journalist Adam Lusekelo presents some very personal reflections and reminiscences from people living through those momentous events in five former British colonies.

Programme 1: Tuesday 12th October, 0930 - Elizabeth Ohene looks back on the Gold Coast's independence from Britain in 1957.

Programme 2: Tuesday 19th October, 0930 - Adewale Maja Pearce's personal reflections on Nigeria's experiences since independence.

Programme 3: Tuesday 26th October, 0930 - Brigadier General Hashim Mbita, former Chief Executive of the OAU co-ordinating Committee for the Liberation of Africa, reflects on Tanzania's role in supporting armed struggles for independence where it was not granted through negotiation.

Programme 4: Tuesday 2nd November, 0930 - Zarina Patel grew up during colonial rule in Kenya. Today she’s a prominent writer and human rights activist, and her research has revealed that many Asians played an important – but little known - part in the fight for Kenya’s independence.

Programme 5 : Tuesday 16th November*, 0930 - Professor Thandika Makandawire recalls the struggle for Malawi's independence, and the thirty years he subsequently spent in exile.

MARK_S

December 28th, 2011, 01:18 PM

Tanzania set to revive National Youth Service
http://in2eastafrica.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Kikwete-listens-as-the-visiting-Zimbabwean-military-Chief-of-Staff-General-Constantine-Chiwenga.jpg
President Jakaya Kikwete listens as the visiting Zimbabwean military Chief of Staff, General Constantine Chiwenga, explains something to him at the State House in Dar es Salaam on Saturday. General Chiwenga was in the country for a five-day visit. (Photo by courtesy of State House)

President Jakaya Kikwete has said that the government is finalizing processes of reviving the National Youth Service in accordance to the constitution like it was in previous years.

The president said that Tanzania was ready to share its experience of how to run the National Service to Zimbabwe, which is planning to have a similar programme for youths.

President Kikwete said this on Saturday while holding talks with the visiting Zimbabwe army commander, General Constantine Chiwenga.

During the discussion General Chiwenga explained to President Kikwete the political and economic climate in Zimbabwe as well as the process of having a new constitution as the country nears general elections.

General Chiwenga took the opportunity to thank President Kikwete for Tanzania’s contribution towards the liberation of the country.

President Kikwete wished Zimbabwe and its people best wishes in their drive towards economic and political revolution and stressed that Tanzania was ready to assist in any way.

“We are together. Tanzania is together with Zimbabwe and its people. We have a historical relationship in the liberation camps of Kongwa and Nachingwea and as far as the forests of Mozambique till inside Zimbabwe itself. It is a relation built on the blood of Tanzanians and Zimbabweans,” he explained.

The meeting was also attended by the Chief of Defence Forces of the Tanzania People’s Defence Force, General Davis Mwamunyange.
http://in2eastafrica.net/tanzania-set-to-revive-national-youth-service/

bantugbro

January 6th, 2012, 02:48 PM

TANZANIA: A mining company nears maiden rare earth resource at Ngualla in southern Tanzania

http://www.eastafricanewspost.com/images/mining.jpg

Peak Resources is on schedule to deliver a maiden JORC Resource for the Ngualla Rare Earth Project in southern Tanzania by the end of the March quarter 2012. Ngualla is proving to be one of the largest and better grade new rare earth discoveries of recent years with mineralisation similar in style to Lynas Corporation’s Mt Weld in WA.

Peak Resources (ASX: PEK) has received further assays from recent drilling at the Ngualla Rare Earth Project in southern Tanzania which show broad intersections of rare earth oxides (REO) including 100 metres at 3.65% from surface including 66 metres at 4.39%.

Rare earth intersections from a further five holes in the Southern Rare Earth Zone also include 120 metres at 3.38% REO from surface, including 14 metres at 5.33% from 38 metres and 38 metres at 4.75% from 68 metres.

A reconnaissance reverse circulation drill hole within the Northern Zone returned 52 metres at 1.33% REO from 20 metres.

This hole is located 860 metres northeast of existing bedrock intersections in the Southern Rare Earth Zone and suggests the potential to significantly extend the known rare earth mineralisation to the north.

Meanwhile, the first assay results from the Northern Zone have also been received and returned encouraging grades of niobium-tantalum and phosphate in addition to the rare earth mineralisation.

Best intersections include 74 metres at 0.56% niobium oxide and 171 parts per million tantalum oxide from surface, including 26 metres at 0.91% niobium oxide and 239 parts per million tantalum oxide from surface and 64 metres at 19.7% phosphate from 10 metres.

Ngualla in southern Tanzania is a virgin discovery made by Peak, with the first holes completed in June 2010.

The company has rapidly advanced the project and a 19,046 metre resource drilling program was recently completed on 30 November 2011.

Results continue to demonstrate that Ngualla is one of the largest and better grade new rare earth discoveries of recent years, with mineralisation still open to the north and south.

Rare earth mineralisation extends from surface and is similar in style to Lynas Corporation’s (ASX: LYC) Mt Weld project in Western Australia, being rare earth enrichment in the deeply weathered regolith profile of a large carbonatite.

While the rare earth potential of Ngualla is Peak’s primary focus, the project also has potential to host large, near surface deposits of niobium-tantalum and phosphate.

A steady flow of assay results will continue until the end of January from the 21 reverse circulation and diamond holes in the Southern Rare Earth Zone and 23 reverse circulation holes still outstanding in the Northern Niobium-Tantalum-Phosphate Zone.

Peak Resources is targeting a maiden JORC Resource for the Ngualla rare earth mineralisation by the end of the March quarter of 2012.

The potential of the Ngualla Rare Earth Project also appears to be well acknowledged by investors with Peak Resources receiving firm commitments to raise A$2.24 million through the placement of 8 million new ordinary shares at $0.28 per share.

The placement was to new institutional and sophisticated investors.

Funds raised from the placement will be used to complete the assays on the RC and diamond drill holes for the Ngualla Rare Earth drill program completed on 30 November.

In addition, the placment funds will assist beneficiation and metallurgical test work.
Source:
http://www.eastafricanewspost.com/index.php/east-africa-business/650-tanzania-a-mining-company-nears-maiden-rare-earth-resource-at-ngualla-in-southern-tanzania

MARK_S

January 9th, 2012, 04:26 PM

Tanzania ranked 7 "highly" among 45 favorable tourist destinations in the World. www.thecitizen.co.tz/news (http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/news/-/18652-tanzania-ranked-highly-as-tourist-destination)

:cheers:

MARK_S

January 9th, 2012, 05:55 PM

SIGNED TODAY MONDAY :banana::banana::banana:

CONTRACTOR- CHINA RAILWAY JIANGCHANG ENGINEERING CO. (T) LTD AND MAJOR BRIDGE ENGINEERING CO. LTD.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc475/xiaohan1/SAM_2397.jpg

Waziri wa Ujenzi,Mh. John Magufulli akihutubia leo wakati wa hafla ya utiliaji wa saini wa mradi wa ujenzi wa daraja la Kigamboni ambao unatarajiwa kuanza siku yeyote kuanzia hivi sasa leo kwenye hoteli ya Serena jijini Dar es Salaam.Mkataba huo umesainiwa baina ya Shirika la Taifa la Hifadhi ya Jamii (NSSF) na Wakandarasi kutoka nchini China ambao ni CHINA RAILWAY JIANGCHANG ENGINEERING CO. (T) LTD na MAJOR BRIDGE ENGINEERING CO. LTD.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc475/xiaohan1/IMG_4460.jpg

Waziri wa Kazi na Ajira,Mh. Gaudencia Kabaka akihutubia katika hafla hiyo leo ambapo ametoa wito kwa wakazi wa Dar es Salaam kujitokeza kwa wingi kuomba kazi za ujenzi huo wa mradi wa daraja la Kigamboni.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc475/xiaohan1/IMG_4361.jpg

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc475/xiaohan1/IMG_4383.jpg

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc475/xiaohan1/IMG_4411.jpg

Mkurugenzi Mkuu wa Shirika la Taifa la Hifadhi ya Jamii,Dkt. Ramadhan Dau (kushoto) akibabadilirishana vitabu vya mkataba wa mradi wa ujenzi wa Daraja la Kigamboni na Mkurugenzi Mkuu wa Kampuni ya ukandarasi ya China Railway Jiangchang Engineering,Bw. Shi Yuan mara baada ya kusaini leo kwenye hoteli ya Serena jijini Dar es Salaam.Wengine Pichani ni Waziri wa Ujenzi,Mh. John Magufulli,Waziri wa kazi na Ajira,Mh. Gaudencia Kabaka,Mkuu wa Mkoa wa Dar es Salaam,Mh. Said Sadick,Balozi wa Misri nnchini

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc475/xiaohan1/IMG_4295.jpg

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc475/xiaohan1/IMG_4237.jpg

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc475/xiaohan1/IMG_4532.jpg

http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae190/tanzan_2010/4-18.jpg

:cheers:

bantugbro

January 10th, 2012, 12:03 PM

The best, beautiful, and longest bridge in EAC...^^

Geza Ulole

January 10th, 2012, 12:19 PM

The best, beautiful, and longest bridge in EAC...^^ Hahah not the longest though either one of those at Malagarasi or Rufiji or Ruvuma will be at the top! We are at the top of everything you know...:lol:

bantugbro

January 10th, 2012, 12:29 PM

Hahah not the longest though either one of those at Malagarasi or Rufiji or Ruvuma will be at the top! We are the top of everything you know...:lol:

Ooh! my bad!, this one it too stunning i even forgot others...

Ok, so now the list of the longest bridges in EAC goes like this:

1: Malagarasi bridge -Tanzania

2: Rufiji bridge - Tanzania

3: Kigamboni bridge - Tanzania

4: Ruvuma(Umoja)bridge - Tanzania and Mozambique....

Geza Ulole

January 10th, 2012, 12:36 PM

:cheers:Ooh! my bad!, this one it too stunning i even forgot others...

Ok, so now the list of the longest bridges in EAC goes like this:

1: Malagarasi bridge -Tanzania

2: Rufiji bridge - Tanzania

3: Kigamboni bridge - Tanzania

4: Ruvuma(Umoja)bridge - Tanzania and Mozambique....

bantugbro

January 11th, 2012, 02:09 PM

East Africa: U.S. $4.7 Billion Railway Line Linking Dar, Rwanda, Burundi to Begin 2014

Construction of the $4.7 billion railway line linking Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania will begin in 2014, after the three governments finalise fund-raising activities.

Tanzania and Uganda have also reached consensus that the proposed joint commercial rail track running from Tanga-Arusha-Musoma to Kampala, will not cut through the Serengeti National Park, thus ending a long-standing row between the two countries.

"Rest assured that the railway line will be constructed 100km south of the Serengeti National Park border and will thus not interfere with the ecosystem," said Omari Nundu, Minister for Transport.

The Tanzania-Rwanda-Burundi line will boost economic and social development through regional co-operation. Mr Nundu, said the design, engineering studies and development of financial, legal, institutional and regulatory frameworks have been completed.

Feasibility studies were completed in June 2009.

"Eventually, we hope to develop a railway system that connects the agricultural, mining and industrial hubs of the three countries to the port of Dar-es- salaam," he said.

According to Mr Nundu, the railway line will also reduce non-tariff barriers to trade particularly transport costs and delays caused by road transport.He said the Tanga and Musoma ports will be dedicated to cargo traffic destined for Uganda and South Sudan.

Frankfurt Zoological Society applauded the two countries for demonstrating they were concerned about the Serengeti ecosystem."We are happy the cross border railway line will pass through the densely populated areas to the south of the Serengeti where the commercial potential is greater, instead of the ecological fragile areas in the north," said Dr Markus Borner, the Africa director of the Frankfurt Zoological Society.

Dr Borner said there is now a solid development model that gives maximum support to the economic growth of the region without endangering the migration of nearly two million animals in the world-renowned national Park.

A fortnight ago, Tanzania and Uganda signed an agreement with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation for the Tanga-Arusha-Musoma railway project.

Under the multi-million-dollar project, the CCEC has been commissioned to conduct a feasibility study and implementation of the project.

Managing director of CCEC, Wang Xiangdong, said feasibility studies will be completed by April 2012.

The project worth $3 billion will include the construction of some 880km railway line, the Mwambani port in Tanga, Musoma dock and another at Port Bell in Uganda. The project is expected to be completed by 2015.

Freight will be conveyed from Musoma dock by ferry to Port Bell pier in Uganda -- about 350km.

A rail connection will also run via Tororo to Gulu - nearly 600km. Another line roughly 250km, will also be constructed to Juba, and a further 550km to the WÃ¥o railhead in South Sudan.

Source:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201201100072.html

My take:
This is what economists call strangle-holding of Mombasa port and any Kenyan port projects on the drawing board^^:ohno:...

Rayman87

January 11th, 2012, 08:10 PM

^^

:cheers:

It was time !! Can't wait so Rwanda can stop being an expensive country.

bantugbro

January 12th, 2012, 10:13 AM

^^

:cheers:

It was time !! Can't wait so Rwanda can stop being an expensive country.

The sooner the better...:cheers:

mwanamwiwa

January 12th, 2012, 07:01 PM

Ooh! my bad!, this one it too stunning i even forgot others...

Ok, so now the list of the longest bridges in EAC goes like this:

1: Malagarasi bridge -Tanzania

2: Rufiji bridge - Tanzania

3: Kigamboni bridge - Tanzania

4: Ruvuma(Umoja)bridge - Tanzania and Mozambique....

:lol:

Why are you bragging,you have the longest bridges because you need them.More sugar coating I see.

mwanamwiwa

January 12th, 2012, 07:04 PM

The East African: Understanding the region

wYgs_SKtsPA

mwanamwiwa

January 12th, 2012, 07:16 PM

East Africa: Lessons for Tanzania Policy Makers From EAC Investors

11 January 2012

Former Kenyan Finance minister Amos Kimunya made a progressive decision when he announced in his 2007 budget speech that all East Africans would be treated as locals when participating in IPOs by Kenyan companies.

He paved the way for thousands of investors from the East African Community (EAC) member countries who bought shares in the multi-billion shilling Safaricom initial public offering (IPO) that was floated in June 2008.

Soon after, Uganda reciprocated Kenya's gesture when it allowed thousands of investors from EAC member countries to participate in the Stanbic Bank Uganda IPO.

Rwanda has also taken the free market cue, opening up its bourse to EAC citizens particularly in last year's Bralirwa and Bank of Kigali IPOs .

Over time, however, Tanzania-- EAC's second largest economy--has remained a closed shop, denying its citizens the opportunity to invest freely in member countries' economies, and also locking out its neighbours from investing in the country.

This has made the country appear isolated and out of tune with the EAC common market principles, which advocate free movement of goods, capital and human resources across the region.:ohno:

Tanzania has always argued that it needs to protect its nascent economy from volatility that potentially comes with opening a country's borders to the outside world.

Given its Communist past, Tanzania has always had a phobia that opening up to the outside world too fast could destabilise social order by exposing prime public assets to acquisition by "outsiders."

Responding to our recent queries, the Tanzanian capital markets regulator said most countries enforce some form of state control of their resources, and cited Kenya's restriction of up to a maximum 75 per cent foreign ownership in listed firms.

Whatever the merits and demerits of Tanzania's arguments, what is emerging clearly is that its isolationist policy is not sustainable in the long term.

According to subscription figures of the recent share sale of Tanzania Breweries shares, Tanzanian citizens snapped up 55.24 per cent of the offer, foreign investors took up 44.72 per cent of the shares, while East Africans got a paltry 0.04 per cent of the offer.

Arrangers of the transaction attributed the low participation by EAC citizens to the stringent rules that they have to adhere to when trading shares at the Dar-es -Salaam bourse.

The apathy by regional investors could also possibly be viewed as a statement of protest to a system that has refused to change with the times.

Copyright © 2012 Business Daily. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

^^ Is this what will surpass Kenya?

Geza Ulole

January 12th, 2012, 07:50 PM

East Africa: Lessons for Tanzania Policy Makers From EAC Investors

11 January 2012

Former Kenyan Finance minister Amos Kimunya made a progressive decision when he announced in his 2007 budget speech that all East Africans would be treated as locals when participating in IPOs by Kenyan companies.

He paved the way for thousands of investors from the East African Community (EAC) member countries who bought shares in the multi-billion shilling Safaricom initial public offering (IPO) that was floated in June 2008.

Soon after, Uganda reciprocated Kenya's gesture when it allowed thousands of investors from EAC member countries to participate in the Stanbic Bank Uganda IPO.

Rwanda has also taken the free market cue, opening up its bourse to EAC citizens particularly in last year's Bralirwa and Bank of Kigali IPOs .

Over time, however, Tanzania-- EAC's second largest economy--has remained a closed shop, denying its citizens the opportunity to invest freely in member countries' economies, and also locking out its neighbours from investing in the country.

This has made the country appear isolated and out of tune with the EAC common market principles, which advocate free movement of goods, capital and human resources across the region.:ohno:

Tanzania has always argued that it needs to protect its nascent economy from volatility that potentially comes with opening a country's borders to the outside world.

Given its Communist past, Tanzania has always had a phobia that opening up to the outside world too fast could destabilise social order by exposing prime public assets to acquisition by "outsiders."

Responding to our recent queries, the Tanzanian capital markets regulator said most countries enforce some form of state control of their resources, and cited Kenya's restriction of up to a maximum 75 per cent foreign ownership in listed firms.

Whatever the merits and demerits of Tanzania's arguments, what is emerging clearly is that its isolationist policy is not sustainable in the long term.

[B]According to subscription figures of the recent share sale of Tanzania Breweries shares, :)
Copyright © 2012 Business Daily. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

^^ Is this what will surpass Kenya?

The shares were oversubscribed up to 200% (including me acquired some); why the hell do you think we needed other EA states (esp. Kenya) to acquire them if we have money ourselves!? Tanzania has its policies and it is not upon some losers in the neighboring country to be telling us what to do if you allow foreign participation up to 75% it is not up to us to reciprocate that we can as well offer only 20% or none to foreigners! No wonder you have bigger GDP but the number of people living under $2 a day is bigger than Tanzania though our GDP is smaller compared to yours! REASON being your economy is foreign owned...!

popa1980

January 12th, 2012, 09:36 PM

mwanamwiwa

January 13th, 2012, 02:39 AM

KEMRI Malaria Research

aK8g1IvTiVk

Malaria research centre in Kilifi County,Coast Province.:cheers:

0IH6YRHJqN0

mwanamwiwa

January 13th, 2012, 03:37 AM

New maize strain developed by KARI.

MlHNT0ciWt0

mwanamwiwa

January 13th, 2012, 03:41 AM

Tanzania PM tours KARI.

hfFzhWLkZTM

Geza Ulole

January 13th, 2012, 03:41 AM

New maize strain developed by KARI.

MlHNT0ciWt0

what the use of those findings if still u die of hunger? at list in TZ malaria findings have eradicated malaria in the isles (http://allafrica.com/stories/201004260347.html)

mwanamwiwa

January 13th, 2012, 03:42 AM

what the use of those findings if still u die of hunger? at list in TZ malaria findings have eradicated malaria in the isles

Dont hate,participate.:cheers:

Geza Ulole

January 13th, 2012, 03:57 AM

http://www.ted.com/talks/bart_weetjens_how_i_taught_rats_to_sniff_out_land_mines.html

Tanzania: Land mines, tuberculosis – never fear, rats are here

Posted by chrisanthi on 25/11/2011
Apopo's African Hero Rats detect landmines

A dynamic duo. Landmine detecting rat Salima and her trainer Abu Chongole

Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania: I’m sitting on a windowsill. It’s a nice windowsill and I like it here.

The terracotta red buildings with their timber-framed screen doors, the pink flowers, the palm trees, my big cousins, which my human friends call cows, are coming along the path, and to my left, in the distance, I can’t see them, because my eyesight is not great, but I can smell, my cousins the camel.

I’m glad we young rats get this time that the Apopo bosses call ‘socialisation’, before we begin our training and then our work.

I’m glad too that my friend Hannah is here and she is letting me lick her hand; this morning she was eating bananas.

I’ve learned so many things already in my life. I was born under the ground in a comfortable dirt place which one day was dug up and then we were introduced to the light.

My siblings and I were then given our names. I am Aaron, and at four weeks we were moved from our mother, we were put in a new cage with a brown clay pot to sleep in, wood to play on and we began to be properly introduced to the world of humans.

This is a place of important learning but it took me a long time to learn its name was Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) because everyone calls it ‘Soowa’. I have smelled the fresh cut grass on what is called a football field, the grass cut by young men with machetes, I have seen the different types of vehicles that the students move about in, the tired, beaten looking ones called taxis and the small bright coloured ones which have no windows and doors called tuk-tuks – my favourite being a red one with words in thick pretty writing that said ‘campus shuttle’.

I am an African giant pouched rat, when I start work I will become a Hero Rat. I wonder what role will be chosen for me.

Inside, this building some of my older brothers and sisters are already working. There is a long glass box with many different holes. One by one the holes are opened, inside each hole is a small tub of a clear substance which sick humans cough up when they are in a place I have never seen called a hospital.

At one time some of these little tubs of sputum would have been harmful, bearing the contagious disease with the tongue-tying name tuberculosis (TB), which I’ve heard kills many human beings in this world, especially when they are poor.

The sputum has been processed to make safe to handle but the strong smell of TB – which we with our long noses smell though our human friends cannot – remains.

As a Hero Rat my job could be to smell each hole and tell the humans, through scratching, when I sense the deadly disease. I know that each one of these pots has been checked by human heroes called lab technicians with a strange silver thing called a microscope – but they do not have our noses and sometimes they miss things.

Of course we are sometimes wrong too – that’s why two of us Hero Rats must identify the same sample which the humans have missed before it will be taken next door to the dark, cool, room where one of the two nice men in the white coats will look through the microscope to see the disease that we smelled.

The banana-eating Hannah Ford, whose job is to tell the world about us Hero Rats, is talking to a type of human called a journalist and I hear her say with pride, which I feel too: “A lab technician can view 20 to 30 samples a day with microscope, The World Health Organisation says that 40 is the maximum they can look at in day, our rats easily do that in under seven minutes – they’re just so much faster.

“In an average week our rats will check 600 to 700 samples and find 5 to 10 cases of tuberculosis which the hospitals missed. Before we started collecting these samples there was never any second-line screening done, the samples were simply thrown away.”

We walk inside, my long whiskers twitching excitedly at the change in atmosphere from the heat and packed dirt outside to the cool cleanness inside.

The journalists are shown how one day I may be trained, first with a smaller box with only three holes in it, and how when we correctly sniff out the tuberculosis we are rewarded with food. The training takes about six months but is slightly different for each of us.

Peter Luanda, who is 40 in human years, and one of the trainers for the 33 heroes who work in the TB lab, is holding Melitta – she is running around on his shoulders and Peter says she is “showing off for visitors” – I think Peter is right.

He describes how some of us rats will pass our test to become TB detectors more quickly than others. He also says: “Sometimes, just like you get a human that doesn’t like to work, so you can get a rat that doesn’t want to work, just lies down and starts sleeping. But most of the time they are passing their exams and that makes us happy.”

I am determined if I am chosen for TB work I will not be lazy, I will make Peter proud.

But, perhaps I will not be working in this lab; perhaps I will be working far away in a place called Mozambique where a new TB lab is to be built in the city of Maputo so that we can help Mozambicans as well as Tanzanians.

Or perhaps I will be in Mozambique sniffing the ground in fields and open countryside to find these things which humans put in the ground to kill other humans, even long after their quarrel has ended.

It is this work with landmines for which we Hero Rats are most famous. We rats are relatively newcomers and I hear that there are many humans who do this work, sometimes when there is a thing in the ground around these mines called oil, which must be very important indeed, big machines will be brought to the place by white humans who come from faraway places.

Then the mines will be exploded by the machines and the land quickly made safe. But when there is no oil there is no one to pay for these machines and the people must go on dying while farming for long years.

We Hero Rats aim to be most useful to those who are poorest and we are improving all the time. Recently we have doubled our speed.

We are trained here at SUA for nine months with mines that can no longer injure people but which still smell of their deadly substance. Our trainers use a string to help us walk in straight lines carefully sniffing the ground. When we find a mine we are rewarded with food.

Once when I visited the field here I heard a man speaking. His name is John Mosha and in human years he is 37.

He was telling some visitors of his favourite Hero Rat named Glory. Like all the SUA trainers here in Tanzania John had the chance once to go to Mozambique and see us in action with our new Mozambican handlers. Glory had graduated and started her work sometime earlier but John said he recognised her at once “because of her size and body morphology”.

“Most of my friends find my job funny and says it needs a lot of imagination,” said John.

“Locals in Mozambique also found it very funny. When they saw them performing this most of them were surprised but when they saw them bringing in land mines they were happy because they were releasing tension from their community.

“After removing mines the land can be used for agriculture, grazing, a lot of economic activities.”

John said he has been working at Apopo since the very early days, since 2002, when there were only 90 of us heroes as opposed to the 300 we have in our family now.

We work only early in the morning as it is too hot for us rats to work later in the day and John has now completed his part-time studies in business administration at SUA and will be looking for a new job, although I know from the tone in his voice he will miss us.

I remember him also saying to the visitors: “I think the SUA community should learn from Apopo. By that I mean they should do research that has a positive impact on communities working here. Apopo gives a good salary.

“They should be not just academic but there should be more practical research like this that has an impact on the community.”

Glory is probably dead now, not from a landmine – we are too light to set them off – simply from old age as we African giant pouched rats live only 6-8 human years; they were both in Mozambique in 2003, but John still remembers her.

But perhaps I will not be in either of these roles. Sometimes when I am put on top of the radio in the office, but the radio is not too loud, I hear about new jobs being devised for us Hero Rats.

Perhaps I may be a land mine detector in Thailand or Angola. Or perhaps I may be a pioneer rat in the illegal tobacco trade or in detecting salmonella which is the cause of a lot of thoroughbred horse deaths in a faraway place called the US.

Recently there was a Tsunami. I can’t imagine what this thing could be but I know from the way my human friends talk about it that it was horrible. Research has begun to find out whether we Hero Rats could be used to help in searching for and rescuing humans who have been caught in these horrible disasters.

All these jobs may one day be mine – but for now my job is to sniff, scratch and whiskery feel everything around me here at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania.

Please forgive a journalist her whimsy in channeling her inner rat (perhaps precipitated by the fact my school nickname for a time was ‘mouse’). All the speech in quotes and the facts and figures are reportage.

Apopo, founded in 2000, is a Belgian NGO headquartered in Tanzania which works on projects in Tanzania, Mozambique and Thailand. It has a policy of training and employing local people with 190 of its 200 staff coming from these developing countries.
Tuberculosis

1.7million people die from TB each year.
1 person left untreated is likely to spread the disease to 10 to 15 others.
Apopo works with 10 hospitals in Tanzania and, on average, has increased the detection rate by more than 40 percent.
In 2010, 26,665 sputum samples were examined by rats and 716 TB positive patients were detected only through Apopo.
Apopo will be replicating its ‘second-line’ screening lab in Maputo, Mozambique.
It is investigating using rats in the first instance instead of as second-line screening.

Landmines

The UN estimates landmines kill up to 20,000 people per year and make agriculture a deadly pursuit for millions more.
2.1 million sq metres of land was cleared in Mozambique by the end of 2010, with 796,168 sq metres in 2010 alone.
New techniques developed in 2010 meant that Apopo was able to double its speed. As a result it aims to have cleared another 1.5-2 million sq metres of land by the end of 2011.
In 2010 36 Hero Rats, working with 14 locally trained handlers, found 861 landmines; 373 items of unexploded ordnance; 1 cluster bomb and 6,216 small arms and ammunitions.
The cost per square metre of clearing landmines can vary greatly per place and per organisation with reported costs ranging from 50 US cents to $5 (US). In Bosnia and Hertzegovna, in 2003, Landmine Monitor says the average for Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) was $2 (US). Apopo reports a cost of $1.50 (US) per square metre.

http://www.itbeganinafrica.com/inspiring-people/tanzania-land-mines-tuberculosis-%E2%80%93-never-fear-rats-are-here

SUA rats to detect mines in Angola, DRC
By MASEMBE TAMBWE, 13th November 2010 @ 16:00, Total Comments: 0, Hits: 3066

The Sokoine University of Agriculture landmine detection project is soon expanding to Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), thanks to the signing of a new seven-year co-operation deal with the Province of Antwerp in Belgium.

“We cannot give a specific time when we will go to these two countries at this juncture, since we are just starting to deal with the administrative aspect at the moment,” the APOPO HeroRATS Communications Co-ordinator, Ms Felicia Byrne said.

Ms Byrne told the ‘Sunday News’ yesterday that the extension of the co-operation between APOPO and the Belgian province would help support the Tanzanian training centre in
Morogoro.

She said that the funding would also provide them the capacity to continue to train both the rats and Tanzanian trainers as well as make it possible for the project to expand to Angola and Congo where the problem of landmines exists.

A member of the Provincial Government responsible for North-South, Mrs Inga Verhaert said during the signing ceremony in Morogoro this week that landmines and Tuberculosis
(TB), affect most vulnerable individuals and communities in the developing world.

“They are the major obstacles in social and economic development and therefore the Province of Antwerp is happy to support this exceptional initiative, ensuring its expansion,”
she said in a statement.

By supporting APOPO, Mrs Inga Verhaert said that the Province of Antwerp was both investing in scientific research for humanitarian purposes, while promoting employment
and training in Tanzania.

The official Protocol of Cooperation was signed last Thursday at APOPO headquarters at SUA in Morogoro. It will ensure a seven-year co-operation between APOPO and the Province providing vital funds, to enable the continued expansion in the detection of landmines and TB.

Belgium has been supporting SUA since 1999. APOPO works with African giant pouched rats and these are trained ‘heroes’ which have already produced strong social benefits in the communities in which they have been deployed.

In Mozambique, the HeroRATs team has returned over 1.9 million square metres of land to the local population. TB detection rats in the country have helped to ensure more than
1,500 TB positive patients previously missed by microscopy.

The cases have been diagnosed and have now commenced medical treatment. APOPO is a social enterprise that researches, develops and deploys detection rats technology for humanitarian purposes and is currently employing 143 staff in the country and Mozambique and has over 300 rats in various stages of breeding, training or
implementation.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines says explosives and related devices were responsible for 73,576 casualties worldwide from 1999 to 2009.

Campaign data from 2007 says there were 5,426 recorded casualties, with almost a fifth of them in 24 African countries. Unexploded explosives render roads, highways and enormous swaths of arable land useless.
http://www.dailynews.co.tz/home/?n=14509&cat=home

Geza Ulole

January 13th, 2012, 04:02 AM

Dont hate,participate.:cheers:

the reaserches r useless if they can't save the people from hunger! u see the rat that detect TB and bombs from Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) are all over Africa either sniffing TB or bombs!

mwanamwiwa

January 13th, 2012, 04:02 AM

The CABHORT project

This is a documentary on the CABHORT project, capacity building for effective phytosanitary checks and systems to enhance market access of Kenya's horticultural produce.CABHORT is a programme of the world summit on sustainable Development (WSSD)a partnership between the government of Netherlands and the government of Kenya, The project is housed at Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) and works in partnership with Fresh produce Exporters Association of Kenya (FPEAK),The Kenya Flower Council,Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI)and Horticultural Crops Development Authority (HCDA) with financial and technical assistance from the Netherlands Government. This video shows what the project achieved so far.

pUn8FitjE5Q

mwanamwiwa

January 13th, 2012, 04:09 AM

Small irrigation project

This is a documentary highlighting on the progress of The Small Scale Horticulture Development Project (SHDP) Which is jointly funded by Africa Development Bank (ADB) and The Government of Kenya through the ministry of Agriculture.:cheers:

InTaMImxoqQ

Geza Ulole

January 13th, 2012, 04:14 AM

The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Tanzania: More Research On Arvs Could Change Babies' Lives

Syriacus Buguzi

10 December 2011

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opinion

Dar es Salaam — About a century ago, American President Abraham Lincoln made an inspiring statement whose meaning is still relevant today, especially to people living with HIV across the world.

"In the end, it's not the number of years in your life that count. It's the quality of life in your years", remarked the 16th US president, who is known by, among other things, ending slavery, and successfully leading his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis - the American Civil War.

In Tanzania today, those words of wisdom have meant a lot to 16-year-old Ramadhan Ally, an orphan who hasn't lost his ambition of making it to university, although he was born with HIV, the virus that causes Aids.

Ally admits that without life-saving medications, ARVs, and living a positive life, he wouldn't have made it to the sagacious-experienced-mature person he is now - a personality he has acquired through learning how to cope with the disease.

"I had lost hope in my studies but through the wonders of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and financial support from my aunt, I see myself becoming an economist in the future," noted Ally, a resident of Dar es Salaam's Gongo la Mboto suburb, and a Form Two student at Majoe Secondary School in the city.

In a move to boost the quality of life of teenagers like Ally and children, coupled with the growing momentum to reduce new HIV infections to zero, scientists are capitalizing on the potency of ARVs as a treatment for Aids and a preventive intervention.

A good testimony of the curiosity and effort to exploit the potentials of ARVs is the recent publication of findings of the HPTN (HIV Prevention Trials Network) 046 study, which was conducted in Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. This has revealed yet another life-changing potential of Nevirapine, one of the ARVs.

After many years of clinical trials at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (Muhas), researchers have established yet another potential of the drug. According to them, giving an infant a daily dose of Nevirapine (ARV) for six months, instead of the usual daily dose of six weeks, halves the risk of HIV transmission from HIV-positive breast-feeding mothers to their infants.

"The longer Nevirapine regimen achieved a 75 per cent reduction in HIV transmission risk through breast milk," the study, whose undertaking began in February 2007 and was concluded this year, reads in part.The new findings constitute a blessing to mothers and infants in developing nations, where infectious diseases such as gastroenteritis and pneumonia often pose a life-threatening risk to very young children.

Commenting on the development, the principal investigator in the clinical trials, Prof Karim Manji from Muhas, said a milestone in dealing with the pandemic has been attained."These are scientific, evidence-based findings which show a relatively simple intervention in saving lives and empowering women," he told Insight.

During the study, more than 1,500 'mother-infant pairs' from the four African countries enrolled for the clinical trials co-funded by agencies under the National Institute of Health (NIH) - a US- based research institution.

Before this study was undertaken, the benefits of extending infant Nevirapine doze from six weeks had not been directly evaluated.

With the latest breakthrough in hand, Prof Karim is hopeful that the new findings on extended duration of Nevirapine doze will be incorporated in the coming Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission(PMTCT) guidelines. "In the existing 2006 guidelines, only the maternal Highly Active ARVs and single dose is mentioned. Extended Nevirapine is not mentioned. In the ongoing revision, they shall incorporate this, since it reinforces the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines," Prof Karim emphasised.

Last year, the United Nation's Anti-Aids Agency (Unaids) estimated that 200,000 under-15 children are living with HIV in Tanzania, and that 90 per cent may have acquired the infection through their mothers. The infants get infected while still in the womb, during delivery and during breast-feeding.

That reality makes the issue of addressing the HIV/Aids scourge in the context of women empowerment and PMTCT an important health and medical aspect.

As men continue to choose young partners and vice-versa, the infection rate will keep on going up, so that, as each new generation reaches reproductive age, another wave of HIV infections looms large.

The legal secretary at Tanzania Commission for Aids (Tacaids), Mr Sam Komba, argues that gender responsiveness is needed in addressing the understanding that women are relatively more at risk of contracting HIV. He further notes that laws, by-laws and policies, should address the concerns of women and men simultaneously.

"The legal aspect of HIV/Aids prevention needs to take root among the public and the law enforcers. The question of gender also needs to be addressed seriously by the law," he told Insight last week shortly after presenting a paper on 'HIV/Aids and The Law' at a World Aids Day conference in Dar es Salaam.

Speaking at the same gathering that was organized by Youths' United Nations Association (Yuna), the Director of Unaids in Tanzania, Dr Luc Constantine Barriere, urged the authorities to take necessary steps to ensure access to medication for people living with HIV/Aids. "Strong political will is needed to demand and offer medical services to those who need them," said Dr Barriere in a speech at the conference whose theme was 'Zero New Infections, Zero Aids Deaths and Zero Discrimination'.
Relevant Links

East Africa
Tanzania
AIDS
Health

However, public health pundits argue that as HIV-infected people live longer and require more costly treatments, the cost of treatment will continue to skyrocket.

In a new report, the Centre for Global Development (CGD) points out that in today's austere economic times, donor commitments to provide Aids treatment to all those in need are increasingly becoming unrealistic.To counter that challenge, the report suggests that health policymakers and practitioners need to re-organise their efforts around a single goal of fighting new infections.

That, as the report further reveals, would change assistance policy and practice at every level from donor agencies to recipient governments and health practitioners.

The author is a medical student at Muhimbili University of Health Sciences (Muhas) and a freelance journalist

http://allafrica.com/stories/201112121083.html

mwanamwiwa

January 13th, 2012, 04:29 AM

Benefits of Aeroponic Potatoes over Maize

Documentary features CIP(International Potato Center) potato work in Kenya. June 23, 2010.

RiuDab4YXHQ

abesha

January 13th, 2012, 04:40 AM

Why does it take until 2014 to launch the construction of the railway linking the 4 countries??? The feasibility study was completed in 2009, so there's really no reason to wait any longer. They should be launching it this year and completing it in 2015-2016 instead of delaying it for another 2 years.

mwanamwiwa

January 13th, 2012, 04:56 AM

KARI benefits in a technology transfer project in conjuction with the Advanced Research Centre of Canada through McGill University.Funded by the Government of Canada.

tL2nzg4EOBA

Mintali

January 13th, 2012, 08:51 AM

More bad inaccurate journalism. The project sill start 2014 and be finished the next year?

So Im confused anyway, this is one line. Is the other one from Kenya to South Sudan/Ethiopia and another one Kenya to Uganda or is that the same one?
The Kenya SS and Ethiopia one is different. It joins the three countries to the rest of the world via the Proposed modern port of Lamu

bantugbro

January 13th, 2012, 12:14 PM

More bad inaccurate journalism. The project sill start 2014 and be finished the next year?

So Im confused anyway, this is one line. Is the other one from Kenya to South Sudan/Ethiopia and another one Kenya to Uganda or is that the same one?

You are terribly confused but that has nothing to do with the journalist.:)

Two separate projects, two separate time lines: Non of them goes through Kenya territory...^^

First - Start from Tanzania port of Tanga to Uganda and Southern Sudan (contract signed, feasibility already started).

Second - Start from Tanzania port of Dar es salaam to Rwanda and Burundi (feasibility done since 2009, construction to begin in 2014).

mwanamwiwa

January 13th, 2012, 11:31 PM

The Kenyan Dairy sector,new technologies.

NkFldJr3hzE

hM5sgLN2TDE

mwanamwiwa

January 14th, 2012, 12:48 AM

Garissa's changing fortunes

YxrUoua65E8

mwanamwiwa

January 14th, 2012, 01:06 AM

:laugh:

:laugh:

Maasai tea farming

EpXjYWYgkkI

xJamaax

January 15th, 2012, 06:51 PM

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/image/view/-/1305942/medRes/324164/-/maxw/600/-/k47ncd/-/airlines.jpg

East African airlines are set for a bruising battle for passengers as carriers go bare knuckle in a new round of competition that pits the region’s flag carriers against their gulf counterparts.

Air Uganda and RwandAir have gone head-to-head on the Entebbe-Kigali route after the latter launched its own morning flight, effectively shredding their existing code-share partnership.

The duo had settled into an uneasy partnership with Air Uganda operating the day flight, while RwandAir the evening service on the same route.

“Although this is not in conformity with our agreement, for now we are not going to react in any way. We shall continue to focus on improving our product and giving customers a choice,” Air Uganda head of marketing Jennifer Musiime said in reference to the fact that RwandAir’s new flights are priced at an all-inclusive return fare of $235 compared to the $310 harmonised base fare under the code-share agreement.

Beside the price wars, which will most likely benefit passengers, the airlines have taken the battle to flight schedules with departures from Entebbe and Kigali separated by less than two hours on certain days, on a route that is known to be thin on passengers.

But as Air Uganda and RwandAir face off, the commencement of services between Entebbe and Kigali by gulf carrier Qatar airways and Turkish airlines poses another threat of competition for passengers.

Qatar starts daily flights to Kigali via Entebbe in early March followed a month later by Turkish Airlines as the two majors seek to stimulate traffic to their respective hubs: one on the southern edge of Central Europe and the other in the Middle East. Particularly significant for Air Uganda and Rwandair, is the fact that just like Ethiopian Air, which has introduced a second daily service on the Addis-Entebbe-Kigali route, Qatar has secured full fifth freedom rights, which means it can cannibalise local traffic between the two points.

This means that Qatar Airlines can land, pick and drop passengers between the Entebbe-Kigali route although its timings and fares may not be that attractive to majority of regular travellers. In most parts of the continent, Qatar Airlines can only drop and pick up other passengers from one airport before it flies back to its hub in the Middle East, which is known as third freedom rights.

By extension Kenya Airways, KLM and Brussels Airlines are also put on notice as they stand to lose some of the Middle and Far East bound traffic that has been going through their respective hubs.

The entry of Qatar provides an alternative to the Middle East and Far East bound passengers from Kigali while Turkish Air offers an alternative transit hub for European and North American bound traffic out of Kigali.

Qatar’s flights to Kigali are part of an expansion drive in the region that will see it launch services to Mombasa and Zanzibar later this year.

“We take bold decisions to serve certain markets because we believe it makes strong business sense,” Qatar Airways chief executive officer Akbar Al Baker, said in reference to the developments, while Temel Kotil, his counterpart at Turkish Air, said that Rwanda would soon be an important and flourishing continental hub of opportunities.
=> (http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/business/Qatar+Turkish+cause+waves+in+regional+airline+market+/-/2560/1305940/-/bnvrb2z/-/index.html)

xJamaax

January 16th, 2012, 05:07 PM

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/8152/sudan.jpg

S.city

January 16th, 2012, 08:37 PM

Tanzania will spend over $189 million on laying the national fibre optic network, which is expected to be complete by March this year, boosting access to and lowering cost of Internet.

Minister for Communication Science and Technology Professor Makame Mbarawa says the project is financed jointly by China and Tanzania, with the former dishing out over $170 million and the latter $18 million.

Professor Mbarawa said that the Exim Bank of China has provided the government with a concession loan for phase one and two of the project.
According to Prof Mbarawa the plan is to connect the whole country, with the cable reaching each district before the end of 2012.

"Over 10,000km will be connected by March this year and the government plans to expand to all regions in the country," he said.
Phase one and two of the project will cover 7000km and already there exists 3,674km of national optic fibre cable in the Country.

Therefore, the National ICT Backbone Project when completed will cover a distance of 10,674km.
According to the government construction work commenced on the central part of the Country and then moved towards the borders of the Western neighbouring countries of Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.

All administrative regional and district centres within Tanzania should be connected to the backbone project.

Phase one of the project has already been carried out, with 19 regions and 59 districts already connected, while the remaining Lindi,Ruvuma, Kigoma, Rukwa, and Mbeya will be covered in the next phase.
The government said that upon its completion, the project will open up more doors for computer users.

ICT development and advancement have a positive correlation. Where there is ICT infrastructure, established structures and unconditional and reliable accessibility then automatically there is social, cultural and economic development.

ICT can therefore be a tool for achieving sustainable development, which comprises economic development, social development and environmental protection.

Xusein

January 16th, 2012, 08:50 PM

ja'far

January 16th, 2012, 09:15 PM

xJamaax

January 16th, 2012, 09:28 PM

bantugbro

January 17th, 2012, 08:58 AM

I deleted over 200 posts of nonsense and country vs country trolling so this thread can be saved. It is about EAC related economic activities, not Tanzania vs Kenya trolling. One guy who loved making these kinds of arguments was recently banned, let's not have another person banned.

Now, continue with EAC economic news.

Bravo, however we will suspect you as a biased mod if you will keep banning Tanzanians posters all the time and leave those who went as far as insulting us individually...^^

I think you are talking about Mark_S, right?The guy had a heart attack, he just couldnt handle the heat coming from the discussion judging from the way he created all those threads.

Anyway the thread look much cleaner now.

I hoped you have learned a lesson or two on how to engage in a discussion without assassinating other characters...

bantugbro

January 17th, 2012, 09:08 AM

Tanzanian Software Developer Wins Apps4Africa Challenge and bags $15,000
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3045/2293239853_ddd6bc4ef4.jpg

14/01/2012
The application was submitted to the apps4africa climate change challenge by developers from all over East Africa. The challenge requires developers to address the effects of climate change (e.g, changing rainy seasons and hotter temperatures makes it hard to grow crops reliably).

1st prize of $15,000 – The Grainy Bunch by Eric Mutta (Tanzania)
The Grainy Bunch is a national grain supply chain management system that monitors the purchase, storage, distribution, and consumption of grain across the entire nation. It was developed with the understanding that selling “the effects of efficiency” to actors in the grain supply chain is much easier than selling “the effects of climate change”.

Grain is nicknamed the “white oil” which lubricates the engine of Tanzanian growth. Even short-term disturbances in its supply chain adversely affects hundreds of thousands of people. To ensure both food security and economic security for all Tanzanians, a system is required to both monitor and facilitate the supply chain of grain, from the soil to our plates.

2nd prize of $7,000 – Mkulima Bora – Stepheno Maleche, Gerry Nandwa, Joseph Onginjo and Oliver Otieno (Kenya)
Mkulima Bora enables farmers to input the type crop they wish to plant into an app, then it cross-checks meteorological data to determine if the crop is suitable given the timing and location. Mkulima improves farmer yields, saves them time, and money

3rd Prize of $3,000 – Agro Universe – Oliama Brian, Daniel Mumbere, Nabuto Josephine, Bossa Alex, Sanya Duncan, Olwenyi Victor, Kato Charles, Masaba Kizito, Kalema Moses, Namuyiga Winfrey (Uganda)
Agro Universe allows farmers with agriculture products or livestock to alert the app’s community so that they can buy and sell goods from each other. It works on both mobile and the web. The aim of Agro Universe is to create a regional marketplace where products can be sold that may have no demand in the user’s immediate area but that might in areas farther out.

Source:
http://www.apps4africa.org/blog/2012/01/14/east-africa-winners-announced-at-villages-in-action-2012/

Uhuru na Umoja

January 17th, 2012, 01:52 PM

One guy who loved making these kinds of arguments was recently banned, let's not have another person banned.

Honestly speaking, you are being a very bias mod! How could you possibly count on a single individual or Tanzanians who counter-attack/s? He who was banned, was banned at the request of Kenyans. What of Kenyans, in their enormous number, insulting us on a daily basis? are trying to mean, when we observe attacks/insults from Kenyans, we should just chill and look? how do you take us, dim-witted?

You have to look at things very clearly, so you can be very fairly and do way with consistently prejudicial judgements.

Stop being Bias, and stop threatening Tanzanians.

very truly.

:cheers:

Kenguy

January 17th, 2012, 02:51 PM

bantugbro

January 17th, 2012, 03:26 PM

Give Dar, Mombasa ports to EAC before we all sink

Posted Sunday, January 15 2012 at 18:10
Kenya and Tanzania have a big “Congo problem” with their – and East Africa’s largest ports, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam respectively.

Last week, things had got so bad at Mombasa port that the time it took cargo to reach Nairobi after a ship’s arrival there was up to 42 days. Everyone was screaming.

Dar es Salaam is equally bad. Some World Bank estimates have it that if Mombasa reached even remotely close to the efficiencies of Dubai port, it could add a record 10 per cent growth to the Kenyan economy.

East African countries like Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan that depend on Mombasa, would also see nearly the same lift in their growth.

If Mombasa got its act together, in other words, East Africa could become so rich, we would have money coming out of our ears.

Instead, Kenya and Tanzania have become like the Democratic Republic of Congo. The country’s mineral wealth is estimated at $24 trillion, more than the combined GDP of Europe and America.

Yet the DRC is one of the poorest countries not just in Africa, but the world. Consider this; the president of a country that is so rich, should not even have to get out of bed to win an election.

However, in the recent election, President Joseph Kabila struggled, and had to shoot voters and steal victory like a common thief.

You have to watch events from the Ugandan capital of Kampala to understand how shambolic Dar and Mombasa ports are.

Every two years or so, Uganda throws a tantrum and announces it is shifting to Dar because Mombasa has become impossible.

Delegations are sent to Tanzania, agreements signed, and pictures taken.

The Kenya media goes into hysterics, announcing that Mombasa is finished, as it will lose business to Dar port.

A few months later, Dar turns into a nightmare for Uganda, and everyone troops back to Mombasa, until another two years later, when the drama starts all over. Today, over 40 per cent of Rwanda’s export and import costs are incurred between Kigali and Mombasa.

It would help if, to start with, East Africans agreed that Kenya and Tanzania can’t run modern ports. Beside basic incompetence, there are too many backward political forces and corruption networks that have captured the ports.

A Kenyan friend, a true nationalist, with interests in the port, is so desperate that he recently remarked, “Mombasa should be given to [Rwanda President Paul Kagame to run.”

However, a better solution might be for Mombasa and Dar ports to be declared “East African Hot Zones,” and given the independent status that the Vatican has in Rome, for example.

The EAC countries would get together and appoint companies who know how to run ports, like Dubai Port or the Port of Boston, to manage Dar and Mombasa. The local political crooks and corrupt networks could still be paid off from the new wealth.

Otherwise, East Africa will sink into economic oblivion if these ports are left in the hands of their “rightful” owners. On the ports, Kenya and Tanzania urgently need to be saved from themselves.

Source:
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Give+Dar+Mombasa+ports+to+EAC+before+we+all+sink+/-/434750/1306026/-/item/1/-/aufiw9z/-/index.html

xJamaax

January 17th, 2012, 05:32 PM

^^ Great news!We have another port at Lamu which will ease up the mess in Mombasa and open up the dry Northern Kenya. I hear Sudan will depend on this port for its exports too.

I think it's true that if both of these ports run efficiently, there would be a positive economic impact in the region. They can invite a private firm to manage them but it would be also good to keep an eye on the firm from gaining too much in terms of controlling everything coming and going in the ports.

Xusein

January 17th, 2012, 06:14 PM

Bravo, however we will suspect you as a biased mod if you will keep banning Tanzanians posters all the time and leave those who went as far as insulting us individually...^^

Honestly speaking, you are being a very bias mod! How could you possibly count on a single individual or Tanzanians who counter-attack/s? He who was banned, was banned at the request of Kenyans. What of Kenyans, in their enormous number, insulting us on a daily basis? are trying to mean, when we observe attacks/insults from Kenyans, we should just chill and look? how do you take us, dim-witted?

You have to look at things very clearly, so you can be very fairly and do way with consistently prejudicial judgements.

I didnt ban MARK S, someone else did. And he wasnt banned because he was Tanzanian, he was banned because he was spamming the entire forum. I have no bias against Tanzanians (why would I?), but I have a bias against trolls. His banning is a warning to all (including Kenyans) that this foolish flame war wont be tolerated anymore.

Thats my last statement, now lets keep the thread clean. This is NOT a competition.

Rayman87

January 17th, 2012, 06:33 PM

bantugbro

January 17th, 2012, 07:01 PM

I didnt ban MARK S, someone else did. And he wasnt banned because he was Tanzanian, he was banned because he was spamming the entire forum. I have no bias against Tanzanians (why would I?), but I have a bias against trolls. His banning is a warning to all (including Kenyans) that this foolish flame war wont be tolerated anymore.

Thats my last statement, now lets keep the thread clean. This is NOT a competition.
Interesting!

bantugbro

January 17th, 2012, 07:09 PM

Give Dar, Mombasa ports to EAC before we all sink

^^

+1000

By the way, how is the Mombasa and Dar ports managed ? Are they managed by the state, a private-public owned company or by a private company ?

The contena side of Dar port is run by a private company fro m Hong Kong. It is contracted to operate for 15 years.

xJamaax

January 17th, 2012, 07:23 PM

Give Dar, Mombasa ports to EAC before we all sink

^^

+1000

By the way, how is the Mombasa and Dar ports managed ? Are they managed by the state, a private-public owned company or by a private company ?I think Mombasa is not yet privatized but there were plans to do so.

Rayman87

January 17th, 2012, 07:23 PM

The contena side of Dar port is run by a private company fro m Hong Kong. It is contracted to operate for 15 years.

Thanks.
I think Rwanda should be more aggressive and enter the competition to manage some parts of EAC ports. Since we are so dependent from them.

bantugbro

January 17th, 2012, 08:17 PM

Thanks.
I think Rwanda should be more aggressive and enter the competition to manage some parts of EAC ports. Since we are so dependent from them.

Aggrssive how? your actual problem is bad road and rail network from and to the ports.

Rayman87

January 17th, 2012, 10:51 PM

Aggrssive how? your actual problem is bad road and rail network from and to the ports.

The railway is currently done (at least is going to start) and the country is small so there's currently no need to have an internal railway network. And by aggressive, i'm talking about being much more involved in what happens in the ports. Stop being a spectator.

How on earth do we have bad roads ?

bantugbro

January 18th, 2012, 09:23 AM

The railway is currently done (at least is going to start) and the country is small so there's currently no need to have an internal railway network. And by aggressive, i'm talking about being much more involved in what happens in the ports. Stop being a spectator.

How on earth do we have bad roads ?

The road/rail to/fro the port^^ not necessarily those inside your country since the longest distance is located in a third country. It is good that leaders have seen that and they have decided to embark on the joint rail network.

bantugbro

January 18th, 2012, 12:45 PM

Burundi to gain from EAC projects

SUNDAY, 08 JANUARY 2012 19:52 EABW REPORTER

BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI-- The Burundian Minister in the presidency in charge of the East African Affairs, Mrs. Hafsa Mossi, has announced several socioeconomic projects.

These projects are part of those planned within the East African Community (EAC). This was revealed during a press conference on the big realizations in 2011, a period during which Burundi had assumed the presidency of the EAC.

To resolve the problem of energy, the General Secretary of the EAC was called upon to look for financing as soon as possible for electric interconnection for the Rusumo-Bujumbura line before 2015, the construction of a thermal power plant of 200 MW to make use of peat, a mineral that is plentiful just a few kilometers north of Bujumbura before 2015 and the construction of the Rusumo hydroelectric dam before 2016.

Besides this, Mrs Mossi said, the project of a railroad connecting Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi (Dar Es Salaam-Isaka-Kigali/Keza-Gitega-Musongati) is a priority of the EAC.

In terms of food safety, an action plan on the food safety and the regional politics on climate change was adopted and the annual budget of its application will be adopted during the budgetary year 2012/2013, said Mrs Mossi.

In addition to this, Mossi also announced that the first conference on tourism, fauna and flora will be organized in Burundi during the financial year 2012-2013.

Furthermore, a regional project on the harmonization of the regulation of medicines is going to start soon in all the partner countries of the EAC. Burundi will host the recently created Commission on research in health.

Source:
http://www.busiweek.com/11/the-eac-issues/eac-news/2237-burundi-to-gain-from-eac-projects

bantugbro

January 18th, 2012, 12:54 PM

East African states to spend $400m on optical fibre backbone

By BusinessWeek Reporter and Agencies

Dar es Salaam. The five East African countries are investing a combined $400 million in terrestrial fiber optics for backbone cables which, when complete, will provide a vast network for Internet connectivity.

This fibre system, which will cover more than 15,600 kilometers, will link Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi and will create the largest interconnected region on the continent. The network will stretch from South Sudan in the north to Tanzania’s border with Zambia and Malawi in the south and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the west. The terrestrial network, dubbed the East Africa Backhaul System, will connect to the submarine fiber-optic cables on the East Africa coast.

In January, Rwanda completed work on its 2,300 kilometres cable at a cost of $60 million. Korea Telecom (KT) laid the fibre. The cable covers the capital Kigali and provides connectivity to the country’s borders with Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and DR Congo. It also covers all the four provinces, links into the main police headquarters, universities and other remote government and administrative offices.

Tanzania is continuing to lay its more than 10,000 kilometres cable at a cost of approximately $170 million. Links to the main borders with Malawi, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi have been completed, according to Prof. John Nkoma, the director general of the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority.

Private operators in Tanzania must augment the cable to reach those areas that will not have been reached by the national backbone, said Prof Nkoma, speaking in the Rwandan capital during the 18th Congress of the East Africa Communications Organisation (EACO), an umbrella body for the telecom regulators in the region.

Phase one of the project covers 7,000 kilometres and the second phase will cover 3,000 kilometres. Like other cables in the region, Prof Nkoma said, the Tanzania network will be deployed by the government to promote e-governance, e-health, e-commerce and e- learning.

Burundi is currently laying a 1,300-km cable at a cost of $10.5 million, using a grant from the World Bank. The cable will cover key entry points -- two on the Rwandan border and one on the Tanzanian side. The cable will also cover the capital, Bujumbura, and all the 17 provinces. ZTE of China has been awarded the tender to lay the cable. The first phase of the project is expected to be ready early next year.

The cable is also expected to reduce the cost of Internet access by more than 70 percent. Today, Internet users in Burundi pay some of the highest rates for connectivity in Africa.

In Uganda, the government acquired a Chinese loan of about $102 million to lay a cable over 2,100 km long, which has been embroiled in a corruption scandal and is more than 18 months behind schedule.

In 2009, the Ugandan Parliament ordered a forensic audit following claims that Huawei of China, the project implementer, was laying the wrong cable. The audit faulted Huawei and the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, which was monitoring the works, for poor works as well as pricing anomalies on the part of Huawei.

Patrick Mwesigwa, the acting head of Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) told the Congress that it is implementing the backbone project in three phases with the first phase already done.

Work on phase two, which links the south of the country to the north is due for completion at the end of this year. Phase three, which will connect the cable with Rwanda, is expected to begin in the course of the second half of the year.

“By mid-next year, the national backbone should be completed,” Mwesigwa said. He noted that the Ugandan cable has two components -- one has linked all government offices and another with spare capacity for the private operators to lease.

The Kenyan government is also investing $60 million in a fiber cable of its own. The National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI) is being implemented by Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE and a French firm, Sagem. Unlike the other countries of East Africa, Kenya’s private sector has laid a lot of the fibre optics. Some 5,000 km of fiber had been laid by the private players by June 2010.

The five partner states plan to link their cables in one network to lower the cost of communication by increasing the speed and capacity of internet connectivity.Telecommunications regulators from these partner states are also pushing for a regional internet exchange point to keep traffic within the region local.

Source:
http://thecitizen.co.tz/magazines/31-business-week/11510-east-african-states-to-spend-400m-on-optical-fibre-backbone.html

Yoniii

January 18th, 2012, 04:47 PM

^^ Great news, hope future lines continues further north :)

u.g boy

January 18th, 2012, 06:22 PM

Museveni endorses stadium plans for Akii Bua, Kakyeka
Publish Date: Jan 18, 2012
http://www.newvision.co.ug/newvision_cms/gall_content/2012/1/2012_1$largeimg218_Jan_2012_101453470.jpg
Artistic impressions of Akii Bua stadium

http://www.newvision.co.ug/newvision_cms/gall_content/2012/1/2012_1$thumbimg118_Jan_2012_101453470.jpg
Artistic impression of Kayeka Stadium ,Mbarara city
By Norman Katende in Lira

THE renovation of the Akii Bua stadium will cost $124m, a soft loan from the Chinese Government.

Assistant commissioner for sports Omara Apitta told Lira District leaders of that the President Museveni had already given a go ahead to the Prime Minister’s office to initiate talks with the Chinese Government to see that reconstruction starts as soon as possible.

“What we are waiting for is the district to make the land transfer. We need all the documents to start further discussions,” said Apitta during the brief to the district authorities.

He said this after a reconnaissance visit to the stadium over the weekend. When reconstruction is complete the stadium will have an indoor stadium, training ground, aquatic centre and a modern hotel.

Various proposals were presented to the ministry by the China construction company AFECC —who were requested by Government to draw model plans of the refurbished stadium.

AFECC vice president Wang Hao made the presentation to the district officials and the press. It will be the same model plans for Mbarara’s Kakyeka stadium.

AFECC was the company that constructed the Mozambique National stadium and aquatic centre that hosted the All Africa Games. The company has an international record in constructing stadiums, roads, airports among other facilities for over 20 years.

“By constructing the stadium, it will help develop sports in the region and also influence the development of the town,” said Wang, who promised to do it in a record time.

Maurice Odong, the mayor of Lira Town Council said that they will do everything to effect the land transfer to the education and sports ministry.

“We will initiate the transfer in less than a fortnight’s time,” promised Odong.

Uhuru na Umoja

January 18th, 2012, 06:39 PM

kiligoland

January 19th, 2012, 07:12 AM

East Africa Hosts Biggest Natural Gas Finds

video

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/84367840/

Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- One of the world's poorest regions is also home to the biggest natural-gas discoveries in a decade, luring investors from steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal to Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Lara Setrakian reports from Dubai on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown." (Source: Bloomberg)

Uhuru na Umoja

January 19th, 2012, 01:31 PM

Ophir Energy kicks off Tanzanian drilling
By Darshini Shah | Tue, 03/01/2012 - 11:13

Ophir Energy (OPHR) kicked off 2012 with a start to its drilling programme in Tanzania, with plans to drill "at least nine wells" across its whole portfolio during the year.

Drilling will commence with the Jodari-1 and Mzia-1 (previously named 1W) wells, both located in Block 1. The company said that "for efficiency reasons", the Mzia-1 top hole section will be drilled first, before moving to Jodari-1. After Jodari-1 has been completely drilled, the bottom portion of Mzia-1 will be worked on.

The Mzia-1 well spudded in 1,500 metres of water on 1 January 2012, with drilling of the top hole section expected to take seven to 10 days. The Jodari-1 well will spud in a water depth of 1,155 metres and drill to total depth of about 4,600 metres subsea in an estimated 40 days.

"Jodari is modelled by Ophir to contain mean resources of 2.2 trillion cubic feet in the stacked targets," the company said in a statement.

Ophir currently holds 40% of Blocks 1, 3 and 4 in Tanzania, with the remaining 60% owned by BG Group (BG.), which has full operatorship.

Other assets

Tanzania is also home to Ophir's East Pande 3D seismic programme, which commenced mobilisation on 30 December. The 2,200 square kilometre 3D seismic programme, in which Ophir holds 70% of the East Pande licence, is expected to take 40 days to complete and is designed to mature prospects for possible drilling late in 2012.

With regard to the Equatorial Guinea rig contract, Ophir expects to "imminently" conclude negotiations to secure a rig for a three to four-well drilling programme in the extended Block R, in which Ophir holds an 80% interest. The programme is expected to start in late March and is estimated to take approximately 60 days.

Last but not least, the Mbeli and Ntsina 3D seismic programme in Gabon, in which Ophir holds 50%, commenced mobilisation on 26 December. The 2,100 square kilometre 3D seismic programme is expected to take 42 days to complete.

Looking for more on the oil explorer? Find out what David Buik said about Ophir in his stock picks for 2012.
http://www.iii.co.uk/articles/22532/ophir-energy-kicks-tanzanian-drilling

:cheers:

Uhuru na Umoja

January 19th, 2012, 01:32 PM

East Africa Hosts Biggest Natural Gas Finds

video

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/84367840/

its about time!:cheers:

bantugbro

January 19th, 2012, 02:10 PM

its about time!:cheers:

hCWQt-KbkUY

xJamaax

January 19th, 2012, 02:29 PM

http://www.newvision.co.ug/newvision_cms/gall_content/2012/1/2012_1$largeimg218_Jan_2012_101453470.jpg
^^Wow, nice stadium!Good for you!

I hope it will really materialize.:cheers:

Uhuru na Umoja

January 19th, 2012, 03:01 PM

Tanzania is also a home for nearly all Military bases of Africa's longest and biggest Liberation Struggle, those bases are now historical sites. SOUTH AFRICA: ANC, PAC, SACP; MOZAMBIQUE: FRELIMO; ANGOLA: MPLA; NAMIBIA: SWAPO; ZIMBABWE: ZANU, though ZAPU leaders were mostly in Tanzania but its pro-Russian military wing [ZIPRA] was operating mainly from ZAMBIA.

O.R Tambo Edu Tour (http://www.facebook.com/pages/OR-Tambo-Edu-Tour/190846860970218) among new initiatives of TOURISM.
One of these is the OR Tambo Educational Tour - a nation-building partnership with Sowetan, Kaya FM, Soweto TV and South African Airways.

The 10-day all expenses paid tour of Tanzania, starts in the capital, Dar Es Salaam, where they will visit various heritage sites.
The better part of the tour will take place in Morogoro, where the historic 1969 ANC conference took place. The site is now a guest house-cum-hotel.

After the intense programme the students will unwind for two days in serene Zanzibar, a small island off Tanzania with its own unique history of slavery.
http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/columnists/2011/08/17/all-for-a-noble-cause-of-our-time

WINNERS of the yearly Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College Trust Initiative-organised O.R. Tambo Edu Tour of Tanzania left Johannesburg yesterday.
http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/goodlife/youthtube/2011/09/30/winning-youth-off-to-tanzania

...more and more TOURISTS to come: as..the SOMAFCO Trust will soon launch the SOMAFCO Young Writers Competition. The program is linked to The Annual Educational Tour to Tanzania which will be amplified for the year 2012. The program encourages literacy amongst the youth and also aims to preserve and promote heritage in a manner that is relevant to young people today."
http://www.facebook.com/pages/OR-Tambo-Edu-Tour/190846860970218

:cheers:

bantugbro

January 20th, 2012, 11:24 AM

Ulpia-Serdica

January 22nd, 2012, 07:25 AM

Ophir Energy kicks off Tanzanian drilling

I remember reading a couple a weeks ago that BP was interested in cooperating with Ophir on one of their wells in Tanzania.

Uhuru na Umoja

January 22nd, 2012, 04:56 PM

I remember reading a couple a weeks ago that BP was interested in cooperating with Ophir on one of their wells in Tanzania.

welcome! :cheers:

Geza Ulole

January 22nd, 2012, 05:20 PM

WB: Tanzania’s 6.4pc growth among the fastest in Africa
Sunday, 22 January 2012 10:44

Tourists inside the Ngorongoro Crater. The Euro area recession will negatively affect merchandise exports, tourism revenue, commodity prices, foreign direct investment and remittances. ***PHOTO | FILE
By The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania was one of the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) last year, according to a new World Bank report.The report, however, warns of economic shocks in 2012 that will be more severe than those experienced during the previous global financial and economic crisis.

It lists the other fastest growing SSA economies as Ghana, Rwanda, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Angola, DR Congo, Zambia and Botswana. Warning of a possible slump in global economic growth this year, the Bretton Woods institution has called on all developing economies to prepare for harsher consequences than the 2008 crisis.

Figures in the 2012 Global Economic Prospects report show that Tanzania recorded the second fastest growth of 6.4 per cent in the EAC last year and the 11th most brisk in SSA. Rwanda led the EAC pack with a growth rate of 8.8 per cent, which was the second fastest in SSA after Ghana’s 13.6 per cent.

The World Bank projects Tanzania’s economy to grow by 6.7 per cent this year, while Rwanda’s will expand by 7.6 per cent. The two growth leaders in East Africa are expected to grow by 6.9 per cent and seven per cent, respectively.

“Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa remained robust in 2011 at 4.9 per cent. Excluding South Africa, which accounts for over a third of the region’s GDP, growth in the rest of the region was even stronger at 5.9 per cent in 2011, making it one of the fastest growing developing regions,” reads part of the report.

“Increased investment flows, rising consumer spending, and the coming on stream of new mineral exports in a number of countries should accelerate Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth to 5.3 per cent in 2012 and 5.6 per cent in 2013. Nonetheless, merchandise exports, tourism receipts, commodity prices, foreign direct investment and remittances are all susceptible to a Euro Area recession,” it further notes.

Last week, President Kikwete said in a statement that the national economy would expand by seven per cent this year. Treasury had forecast the economy to grow by 6.8 per cent last year, and Finance and Economic Affairs minister Mustafa Mkulo has been upbeat about it.

“The government has a strong view that the revised six per cent GDP growth projection for 2011 would be achieved and most likely surpassed,” Mr Mkulo informed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a fiscal and monetary operations letter last December, noting that the economy will grow by 7.2 per cent this year.

In its Global Focus – 2012 report, Standard Chartered Bank says Tanzania’s economy grew by 6.1 per cent and will expand by 6.7 per cent in 2012. It predicts the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to improve from next year at 7.5 per cent and slacken a bit to 7.3 per cent in 2014.

According to the document, 2012 should see an acceleration of GDP growth in the country, thanks to a recovery from drought, lower inflation, resumption of regional food exports and ongoing momentum in mining, gas, construction and agricultural sectors. The British bank further notes that despite the robust trend growth of a low base, Tanzania’s economic prospects are constrained by a substantial infrastructure deficit (poor roads, port congestion and intermittent power supply) and a halting approach to liberalisation...

“Developing countries should prepare for further downside risks, as Euro Area debt problems and weakening growth in several big emerging economies are dimming global growth prospects, says the World Bank in the Global Economic Prospects report.

The international financial institution has lowered its growth forecast for 2012 to 5.4 per cent for developing countries and 1.4 per cent for high-income countries (-0.3 per cent for the Euro Area), down from its June estimates of 6.2 and 2.7 per cent (1.8 per cent for the Euro Area), respectively. Global growth is now projected at 2.5 and 3.1per cent for 2012 and 2013, respectively.

Slower growth is already visible in weakening global trade and commodity prices. Global exports of goods and services expanded an estimated 6.6 per cent in 2011 (down from 12.4 per cent in 2010), and are projected to rise by only 4.7 per cent in 2012.
“Developing countries need to evaluate their vulnerabilities and prepare for further shocks, while there is still time,” said Mr Justin Yifu Lin, the World Bank’s chief economist and senior vice president for Development Economics.

Developing countries have less fiscal and monetary space for remedial measures than they did in 2008/09. As a result, their ability to respond may be constrained if international finance dries up and global conditions deteriorate sharply.

To prepare for that possibility, Mr Hans Timmer, director of Development Prospects at the World Bank, said: “Developing countries should pre-finance budget deficits, prioritize spending on social safety nets and infrastructure, and stress-test domestic banks.”
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/sunday-c...test-in-africa

Geza Ulole

January 22nd, 2012, 05:22 PM

Tanzania May Become ‘Major’ Gas Producer by Decade-End, IMF Says
By Sarah McGregor - Jan 21, 2012

Tanzania will see increased investment in gas exploration over the next five years, and the industry could become a major source of revenue for the East Africa nation by 2020, the International Monetary Fund said.

“Tanzania’s prospects of becoming a major producer of natural gas by the end of the decade appear good,” the Washington-based lender said in an e-mailed statement late yesterday. “There could be large foreign direct investment inflows over the next five years and a substantial increase in exports and government revenue beginning around 2020.”

The country has two gas deposits in commercial production. Songo Songo holds 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, while Mnazi Bay, near the border with Mozambique, has 2 trillion cubic feet, the state-run Tanzania Petroleum Development Corp. said in October 2010.

Changes to some of the country’s policies are planned by the government to ensure the expected increase in gas revenues will support the economy, the IMF said.

“Successfully managing this future gas wealth will be critical,” it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah McGregor in Nairobi at smcgregor5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/...-imf-says.html

Geza Ulole

January 22nd, 2012, 05:25 PM

22nd January 12
French magazine fetes Olduvai Camp lodge
The Guardian Reporter

A tourist camp at the scenic Olduvai Gorge within the spectacular Ngorongoro conservation area has been voted as the best lodge in the world, lifting the Tanzania’s tourism to international limelight.

The Olduvai camp was named by the prestigious magazine, Hotel & Lodge for its annual awards ceremony in the French capital of Paris on January 11, at the Park Hyatt-Vendôme.

The magazine’s annual award event serves to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence of hotels and lodges across the world, especially in emerging markets.

More than 450 industry professionals from around the world were invited to participate in the voting process, where the Mount Kilimanjaro Safari Club owned Olduvai Camp emerged the winner.

A statement issued by the magazine says that initially about 60 lodges were selected worldwide to compete, with the final listing conducted by an independent jury of journalists, photographers and designers. At at the end, three properties made the final cut.

Competition was particularly fierce but Olduvai Camp of Tanzania was rated first, Molori Safari Lodge in South Africa came second, while The Ranch at Rock Creek in the United States was third. The three outclassed 57 other beautiful properties all over the world, it said.

Chief Editor Mrs AnneMarie Catellin le Du said Olduvai Camp’s latest face-lift of course played a crucial role in the competition, but above all, it was the unique spirit and atmosphere of Olduvai that made the difference, pushing it up the list.

“This is a true recognition of the passion and commitment of the Olduvai Camp owner, Mount Kilimanjaro Safari Club, and a much appreciated reflection of their long dedication to Tanzania,” Mrs Anne-Marie affirmed.

Receiving the award, MKSC Director Denis Lebouteux said: “We are very proud and happy to have been chosen for this prestigious prize. I would like to thank the journalists and the photographers who came and made a superb job.”

Mr Lebouteux was grateful to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area for offering them a unique site, and all of MKSC staff, camp team and all those who worked hard in Arusha to make Olduvai Camp to be the world’s best lodge.

“It is their dedication and loyalty that has contributed to where we are today,” he said in a statement. An incredible harmony of shapes and colors, the Olduvai Camp stands out as a remarkable adventure in hospitality.

Set in an ideal landscape for history and art lovers, photo maniacs and walkers the Olduvai Camp’s exterior is sleek with a unique combination of an "industrial" and a natural look.

The stylish interior, however, is in direct contrast - offering a warm, inviting and comfortable feel.
GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/fun...le.php?l=37712

Geza Ulole

January 22nd, 2012, 07:22 PM

Mombasa port loses business as exporters opt for Dar es Salaam
The Kenya Ports Authority’s container terminal: Data from KPA shows that the Mombasa port handled 18.9 per cent less or 552,449 tonnes of cargo from Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC in the nine months to September. Photo/FILE

The Kenya Ports Authority’s container terminal: Data from KPA shows that the Mombasa port handled 18.9 per cent less or 552,449 tonnes of cargo from Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC in the nine months to September. Photo/FILE

Kenya Port Authority (KPA) is losing business to rival Dar es Salaam port as delay in cargo clearance in Mombasa prompts traders from neighbouring countries to turn to Tanzania.

Data from KPA shows that the Mombasa port handled 18.9 per cent less or 552,449 tonnes of cargo from Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC in the nine months to September.

As a result, the port relied on Uganda and South Sudan—that have little choice on their logistic corridor—to grow its export cargo volumes to 3.9 million tonnes in the nine months compared to 3.8 million tonnes in the same period last year.

Shippers attribute the trend to the shorter period it takes to transport cargo from the port of Dar es Salaam compared to Mombasa which is facing congestion that has seen transporters take more than a month to reach Rwanda from three weeks.

“We are losing business to Tanzania because of inefficiency at the port,” said Gerald Kagumo, the vice chairman of East Africa Freight Forwarders Association.

With the reform going on there (Tanzania), Kenya is going to lose even more business, said Mr Kagumo. Tanzania Port Authority has announced a $1.4 billion (Sh120 billion) upgrade with its eye on South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi—which are also key target markets for the Kenya port, also on the expansion trail.

Eastern Africa is witnessing increased trade with the establishment of the common market—which allows for free movement of goods, capital and people in a market of 130 million people.

This has seen logistics firms such as port operators angle themselves for new business, prompting Kenya and Tanzania to announce plans to establish new ports in Lamu and Tanga respectively.

But the loss of business to Tanzania is set to hit the earnings of KPA, logistic firms like transporters and clearing and forwarding agents.

Kenya is hinging its port business on South Sudan and Uganda, at least in the short term, since its takes longer to haul goods from Tanzania to the twin markets.

For instance, the road between Mombasa and Kampala measures 1,170 kilometres compared the route through central Tanzania, estimated at 1,500 kilometres.

Cargo to and from South Sudan rose 48.3 per cent to 249,571 tonnes in the nine months to September from 168,287 tonnes in the same period last year.

This saw its share of cargo business at KPA increase by two percentage points to 6.4 per cent—making it the fastest growing market. As investors take interest in South Sudan and the world’s newest nation race for alternative logistic corridor to avoid hostility from Khartoum, it’s expected that its share will move to the double digit zone.

Alternative route

Uganda share of export cargo at KPA stood at three million tonnes or 78.8 per cent of the export volumes—making it a key market for the Mombasa port.

But Kampala has stepped up the search for alternative routes through Tanzania following the near cut-off of the country from its trade partners by the mayhem that followed Kenya’s disputed 2007 presidential election.

President Yoweri Museveni has stepped up negotiations with Tanzania for an alternative railway passage connecting the port of Tanga to Uganda despite the higher transport costs.

Cargo destined to Rwanda dropped 27.5 per cent to 162,995 tonnes in the period under review while DRC’s fell 17.1 per cent to 262,846 tonnes in the same period. Those to Burundi fell 74.6 per cent to 1,375 tonnes.

gkihara@ke.nationmedia.com
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate+News/Mombasa+port+loses+business+as+exporters+opt+for+Dar+es+Salaam+/-/539550/1312166/-/view/printVersion/-/r9annd/-/index.html

bantugbro

January 23rd, 2012, 08:05 PM

Mombasa port loses business as exporters opt for Dar es Salaam

The Kenya Ports Authority’s container terminal: Data from KPA shows that the Mombasa port handled 18.9 per cent less or 552,449 tonnes of cargo from Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC in the nine months to September. Photo/FILE

The Kenya Ports Authority’s container terminal: Data from KPA shows that the Mombasa port handled 18.9 per cent less or 552,449 tonnes of cargo from Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC in the nine months to September. Photo/FILE

Kenya Port Authority (KPA) is losing business to rival Dar es Salaam port as delay in cargo clearance in Mombasa prompts traders from neighbouring countries to turn to Tanzania.

Data from KPA shows that the Mombasa port handled 18.9 per cent less or 552,449 tonnes of cargo from Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC in the nine months to September.

As a result, the port relied on Uganda and South Sudan—that have little choice on their logistic corridor—to grow its export cargo volumes to 3.9 million tonnes in the nine months compared to 3.8 million tonnes in the same period last year.

Shippers attribute the trend to the shorter period it takes to transport cargo from the port of Dar es Salaam compared to Mombasa which is facing congestion that has seen transporters take more than a month to reach Rwanda from three weeks.

“We are losing business to Tanzania because of inefficiency at the port,” said Gerald Kagumo, the vice chairman of East Africa Freight Forwarders Association.

With the reform going on there (Tanzania), Kenya is going to lose even more business, said Mr Kagumo. Tanzania Port Authority has announced a $1.4 billion (Sh120 billion) upgrade with its eye on South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi—which are also key target markets for the Kenya port, also on the expansion trail.

Eastern Africa is witnessing increased trade with the establishment of the common market—which allows for free movement of goods, capital and people in a market of 130 million people.

This has seen logistics firms such as port operators angle themselves for new business, prompting Kenya and Tanzania to announce plans to establish new ports in Lamu and Tanga respectively.

But the loss of business to Tanzania is set to hit the earnings of KPA, logistic firms like transporters and clearing and forwarding agents.

Kenya is hinging its port business on South Sudan and Uganda, at least in the short term, since its takes longer to haul goods from Tanzania to the twin markets.

For instance, the road between Mombasa and Kampala measures 1,170 kilometres compared the route through central Tanzania, estimated at 1,500 kilometres.

Cargo to and from South Sudan rose 48.3 per cent to 249,571 tonnes in the nine months to September from 168,287 tonnes in the same period last year.

This saw its share of cargo business at KPA increase by two percentage points to 6.4 per cent—making it the fastest growing market. As investors take interest in South Sudan and the world’s newest nation race for alternative logistic corridor to avoid hostility from Khartoum, it’s expected that its share will move to the double digit zone.

Alternative route

Uganda share of export cargo at KPA stood at three million tonnes or 78.8 per cent of the export volumes—making it a key market for the Mombasa port.

But Kampala has stepped up the search for alternative routes through Tanzania following the near cut-off of the country from its trade partners by the mayhem that followed Kenya’s disputed 2007 presidential election.

President Yoweri Museveni has stepped up negotiations with Tanzania for an alternative railway passage connecting the port of Tanga to Uganda despite the higher transport costs.

Cargo destined to Rwanda dropped 27.5 per cent to 162,995 tonnes in the period under review while DRC’s fell 17.1 per cent to 262,846 tonnes in the same period. Those to Burundi fell 74.6 per cent to 1,375 tonnes.

gkihara@ke.nationmedia.com
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate+News/Mombasa+port+loses+business+as+exporters+opt+for+Dar+es+Salaam+/-/539550/1312166/-/view/printVersion/-/r9annd/-/index.html

This is what we have been talking about....^^

mwanamwiwa

January 23rd, 2012, 09:22 PM

This is what we have been talking about....^^

Which is?I dont remember you talking about ports.

Geza Ulole

January 24th, 2012, 09:00 AM

Kenya’s growth to fall behind other EA States in two years

By IMMACULATE KARAMBU ikarambu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Monday, January 23 2012 at 19:53

Kenya’s economy will grow at a slower pace in the next two years than that of most of her East African neighbours, the World Bank has forecasted.

The Global Economic Prospects report for 2012 released by the bank projects that Kenya will grow by five per cent and 5.5 per cent in 2012 and 2013.

This puts Kenya ahead of only Burundi whose growth rate is expected to be 4.7 per cent in 2012 and 4.9 per cent in 2013 but behind Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.

According to the forecast, Rwanda will maintain the lead despite a marginal slowdown to 7.6 per cent in 2012 and 7.0 per cent in 2013. Last year’s Gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimate for Rwanda was 8.8 per cent.

While growth in Uganda is expected to drop from an estimated 6.3 per cent in 2011 to 6.2 per cent in 2012, Tanzania’s GDP is forecasted to improve from an estimated 6.4 per cent in 2011 to 6.7 in 2012 and 6.9 per cent in 2013.

This vindicates research results released by Standard Chartered bank in November last year that indicated a possibility of Tanzania overtaking Kenya to become the leading economy in the region by the year 2030 if the country maintained consistency in the current growth rate.

Increased spending

Economists at the bank are however optimistic that Kenya will achieve the projected growth rate despite this being a general election year under a new Constitution that will usher devolved government that will call for increased spending by the government.

“We are seeing Kenya’s growth coming from a rebound in agriculture as well as significant growth in industry and service businesses,” said Mr Wolfgang Fengler, lead economist for the World Bank Kenya program yesterday.

He added that the manufacturing industry is set to prosper because of projected regional growth. Growth is also expected to accelerate in telecommunications.

The World Bank report comes at a time when the local economy is recovering from unfavourable exchange rates that had seen the home currency lose its value against world’s major currencies for close to two months to December last year.

Other factors include high cost of imports and fuel price increases that have hurt production costs.
http://www.nation.co.ke/business/news/Kenyas+growth+to+fall+behind+other+EA+States+in+two+years+/-/1006/1312766/-/view/printVersion/-/14q3cs9/-/index.html

MY TAKE
This analysis did not factor in oil and gas exports that are to take place in Uganda (by 2016) and Tanzania (2020)

mwanamwiwa

January 24th, 2012, 10:52 AM

Mombasa port loses business as exporters opt for Dar es Salaam

Data from KPA shows that the Mombasa port handled 18.9 per cent less or 552,449 tonnes of cargo from Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC in the nine months to September.

If Tanzanians still need Kenyan ports they cant be considered competition,just my opinion.:cheers:

Geza Ulole

January 24th, 2012, 10:59 AM

If Tanzanians still need Kenyan ports they cant be considered competition,just my opinion.:cheers:

But economics rule, i don't see a point of Kilimanjaro, Arusha and Mara using Dar port considering the proximity of Mombasa to those areas and considering Tanga port can't receive those huge ships and less than 5% of goods to Tanzania pass via Mombasa port! However with the coming up of Tanga that can change! so worry not

mwanamwiwa

January 24th, 2012, 11:00 AM

But at times it is economics that rules i don't see a point Kilimanjaro, Arusha and Mara using Dar port considering the proximity of Mombasa to those areas! However with the coming up of Tanga that can change! so worry not

I am not worried.:)

ciceroji

January 24th, 2012, 03:19 PM

A political fed is the most rational of integration. We should vigorusly work towards this as we agreed. Where it is not possible due to the rigidities of those involved, the compensation measures should be thought out.

How the more advanced countries are going to compensate the less developed? I can not support your factories endlessly while my children cannot access jobs in those factories or even share the profits. This is what caused frictions in the economic blocks.

-Museveni

èđđeůx

January 25th, 2012, 06:26 AM

Kenya’s growth to fall behind other EA States in two years

Below 6% in an election year, and after last year's mess, is understandable. However, if all goes well in elections in December:? and if leading up to it inflation eases, rain fall increases, tourism continues to flourish, etc. I don't see why 2013 couldn't be above 6%.

We'll see, and of course hope for the best for Kenya.

bantugbro

January 25th, 2012, 08:31 AM

Tanzania Govt, three oil firms sign production sharing pacts

25th January 2012

http://www.ippmedia.com/media/picture/large/Oil(1).jpg
Energy and Minerals minister William Ngeleja (C) signs Production Sharing Agreement with Heritage Rukwa Tanzania LTD Senior Acquisition manager Julian Heawood (R) & Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation Managing Director Yona Killagane in Dar es Salaam yesterday.(Photo: Selemani Mpochi)

The government yesterday signed production sharing agreements (PSAs) with three oil companies to undertake exploration in Kyela Basin and the Malagarasi Basin in an effort to develop the energy sector in the country.

Energy and Minerals Minister, William Ngeleja named the exploration companies as Petrobras Tanzania Limited which will explore Block-8 deep offshore of Tanzania, while Heritage Rukwa Limited will explore the Kyela Basin (northern and onshore portion of Lake Nyasa).

Motherland Industries Ltd will explore the Malagarasi Basin in the North-West part of the country.

Ngeleja explained that under the production sharing pacts, the government and the companies had agreed to terms to specifying the obligations of each party. “In case of discovery, the Agreements offer a win-win situation for all parties,” he said adding:
“This is a very aspect for Tanzania and exploration companies as well. A balanced Agreement to all Parties, the Nation and investors, rewards and smoothens operations throughout the life of exploitation, development and exploitation of the field in the case of a discovery.”

He said the term of the PSAs is 11 years divided into three sub-periods, namely initial exploration of four years, first extension of four years and the second extension period of three years.

“The PSAs provide an option for back-off at each stage and a mandatory surrender of 50 percent at the end of each period,” he noted.
He said the move is an important milestone towards exploration of hydrocarbons in the country and in East Africa at large.

The minister stressed the importance of local content in the exploration activities saying that investors will be obliged to use Tanzanian goods and services as well as human resources.

Ngeleja added: Petrobras and Heritage have employed a good number of Tanzanians in their offices though there are still very few qualified local engineers in the exploration sector.

He said the signing of the three PSAs brings the number of exploration licenses in the country to 28 and of exploration companies operating in the country to 18.

“This is the highest number to be recorded since exploration of oil and gas started in the country in the 1950s”, he said.

He cautioned the investors to be responsible in ensuring that exploration activities are carried out in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.

“It will be to our disadvantage and disadvantage of our future generations if we undertake poorly planned exploration activities that will pollute the environment and probably halt other economic activities,” Ngeleja said.
Meanwhile, Heritage Rukwa Limited General Manager, Julian Heawood said in October last year his company signed a contract with the government for the exploration of oil in Rukwa region.

“This is another opportunity to us to explore oil in Tanzania…we are hoping for successes”, he said.

Samuel Miranda Petrobras Tanzania Limited General Manager said geological specifications indicated possibilities of finding both oil and gas as has been a case in Uganda where the company is also operating.

Mid last year, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda invited reputable global companies to invest in Tanzania’s oil and gas sector to boost the country’s economy.

He was quoted as saying that under the Tanzania Public Private Sector Partnership Policy, the government in collaboration with the private sector, oil and gas companies would need to deliberate on ways to enhance effectiveness and efficiency in providing the industry a new status in the country’s economic development.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
www.ipmedia.com

xJamaax

January 25th, 2012, 12:35 PM

Kenya signs oil pipeline deal with South Sudan
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 25 (http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/2012/01/kenya-signs-oil-pipeline-deal-with-south-sudan/) – Kenya and South Sudan have signed an agreement that will allow for construction of an oil pipeline to the port town of Lamu.
The deal was signed in Juba on Tuesday by Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi and Stephen Dhieu, the South Sudanese Minister for Petroleum and Mines.
The signing was witnessed by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula and Public Service Minister Dalmas Otieno.
“The pipeline will be developed through Kenyan territory and will be built and owned by South Sudan. The two countries will negotiate and agree on transit fees for the oil pipeline,” a dispatch from the Prime Minister’s office said.
Kenya has already embarked on a major plan to construct a modern port in Lamu as well as road and railway networks linking Lamu to South Sudan and Ethiopia.
The project, dubbed Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) is to serve as the entry point of goods for Ethiopia and South Sudan.
It is budgeted at $23 billion of which the Lamu port is earmarked to cost $5.3 billion.
South Sudan, which has vast oil resources, became an independent state last July after a referendum in which its citizens voted to part ways with the north.
The land-locked south produces two-thirds of the former unified Sudan’s oil output. The two countries are however locked in a dispute over transit fees for use of the pipeline which terminates at the Red Sea port of Port Sudan.
The conflict hit a crescendo on Monday when South Sudanese President Salva Kiir ordered a complete production shutdown after accusing Sudan of stealing $815 million of crude oil.
“The crisis has reached a stage that is unacceptable,” Kiir told Parliament on Monday.
Khartoum has admitted to taking some South Sudanese oil destined for export as compensation until an agreement, but the South has said this is theft.
Kiir is due to meet Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Friday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the African Union has been mediating talks.
^^

Uhuru na Umoja

January 25th, 2012, 05:15 PM

Tanzania Govt, three oil firms sign production sharing pacts

25th January 2012

http://www.ippmedia.com/media/picture/large/Oil%281%29.jpg
Energy and Minerals minister William Ngeleja (C) signs Production Sharing Agreement with Heritage Rukwa Tanzania LTD Senior Acquisition manager Julian Heawood (R) & Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation Managing Director Yona Killagane in Dar es Salaam yesterday.(Photo: Selemani Mpochi)

The government yesterday signed production sharing agreements (PSAs) with three oil companies to undertake exploration in Kyela Basin and the Malagarasi Basin in an effort to develop the energy sector in the country.

Energy and Minerals Minister, William Ngeleja named the exploration companies as Petrobras Tanzania Limited which will explore Block-8 deep offshore of Tanzania, while Heritage Rukwa Limited will explore the Kyela Basin (northern and onshore portion of Lake Nyasa).

Motherland Industries Ltd will explore the Malagarasi Basin in the North-West part of the country.

Ngeleja explained that under the production sharing pacts, the government and the companies had agreed to terms to specifying the obligations of each party. “In case of discovery, the Agreements offer a win-win situation for all parties,” he said adding:
“This is a very aspect for Tanzania and exploration companies as well. A balanced Agreement to all Parties, the Nation and investors, rewards and smoothens operations throughout the life of exploitation, development and exploitation of the field in the case of a discovery.”

He said the term of the PSAs is 11 years divided into three sub-periods, namely initial exploration of four years, first extension of four years and the second extension period of three years.

“The PSAs provide an option for back-off at each stage and a mandatory surrender of 50 percent at the end of each period,” he noted.
He said the move is an important milestone towards exploration of hydrocarbons in the country and in East Africa at large.

The minister stressed the importance of local content in the exploration activities saying that investors will be obliged to use Tanzanian goods and services as well as human resources.

Ngeleja added: Petrobras and Heritage have employed a good number of Tanzanians in their offices though there are still very few qualified local engineers in the exploration sector.

He said the signing of the three PSAs brings the number of exploration licenses in the country to 28 and of exploration companies operating in the country to 18.

“This is the highest number to be recorded since exploration of oil and gas started in the country in the 1950s”, he said.

He cautioned the investors to be responsible in ensuring that exploration activities are carried out in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.

“It will be to our disadvantage and disadvantage of our future generations if we undertake poorly planned exploration activities that will pollute the environment and probably halt other economic activities,” Ngeleja said.
Meanwhile, Heritage Rukwa Limited General Manager, Julian Heawood said in October last year his company signed a contract with the government for the exploration of oil in Rukwa region.

“This is another opportunity to us to explore oil in Tanzania…we are hoping for successes”, he said.

Samuel Miranda Petrobras Tanzania Limited General Manager said geological specifications indicated possibilities of finding both oil and gas as has been a case in Uganda where the company is also operating.

Mid last year, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda invited reputable global companies to invest in Tanzania’s oil and gas sector to boost the country’s economy.

He was quoted as saying that under the Tanzania Public Private Sector Partnership Policy, the government in collaboration with the private sector, oil and gas companies would need to deliberate on ways to enhance effectiveness and efficiency in providing the industry a new status in the country’s economic development.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
www.ipmedia.com (http://www.ipmedia.com)

:cheers:

Geza Ulole

January 26th, 2012, 02:08 PM

Tullow Oil agreement hits snag over clause favouring Tullow
By MERCY NALUGO & YASIIN MUGERWA (email the author)

Posted Monday, January 23 2012 at 00:00

A key agreement that will see Tullow Oil sell part of its stake in Uganda’s oil sector has been hit by fresh delays. Tullow Oil wants to sell its stake of oil assets for $2.9 billion (Shs7.3 trillion) to France’s Total and Chinese group, CNOOC.

During a meeting of NRM lawmakers in Kyankwanzi at the weekend, President Museveni said the British Oil firm has declined to sign a farm down deal.

Mr Museveni is said to have told the MPs that Tullow had apparently refused to sign the agreement, insisting on a stabilisation clause in the deal maintained to guard against any changes in policy.

Tullow’s Spokesperson Jimmy Kiberu told Daily Monitor yesterday that although they were not privy to discussions during the NRM meeting, they are hopeful that the deal will go through soon.

“The transactions are in very advanced stages and most of the technical hurdles have been crossed. We and our partners remain hopeful that it’s only a matter of time for this to be concluded,” Mr Kiberu said.

President Museveni was speaking during negotiations opposed to clause 33 that establishes the stabilisation clause. Tullow also wanted to construct a pipeline up to Mombasa to process the crude oil.

However, according to a source that attended the meeting, the President explained to the MPs that Tullow wants government to build a processing plant where the company would produce 30,000 barrels of oil per day, despite the earlier agreed 120,000 to 250,000 barrels and “the rest of the oil would go through the pipeline to be processed from outside.” The deal was to be signed last week.

President rejects
Mr Museveni reportedly objected to Tullow’s demands and was overwhelmingly backed by the legislators. “They (Tullow) are demanding that we restore that stabilisation clause which we removed. We said in the meeting that we cannot agree to their terms and we resolved that they should go away,” said the source.

Last year, Tullow announced plans to sell to Cnooc and Total some of its shares retaining the remaining third of the equity itself. The venture lies in the Lake Albert basin on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Tullow has all long been waiting to sign the agreement, bringing on board new partners.

Government reportedly wrote to the three oil companies demanding that they drop the stabilisation clause that shields exploration companies from changes in taxation policy and political chaos making it hard for companies to raise capital in case of any risks.

For instance if Uganda develops new and improved regulations that increase the costs of the oil companies, the government must cover such costs.
Stabilisation clauses also insure an investor from future changes in both fiscal terms and even legislation. To an investor, such changes constitute political risks.

Parliament last year passed resolutions on the oil sector, slapping a suspension on execution of any fresh contracts by the Executive until necessary laws have been passed.

The MPs argued that Tullow does not have any legal contract and that the memorandum of understanding signed with government is illegal and should not be a basis for entering into new contracts.

The President, however, objected to the resolution saying the matter would affect the $2.9 billion deal. Meanwhile, the MPs’ retreat ended on Saturday with a number of resolutions passed in the education sector, media and corruption among others.

Instilling discipline
Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo was also committed to the NRM party disciplinary committee on grounds of allegedly leaking information to the media regarding his comments on the restoration of term limits.

Kyamuswa County MP Tim Lwanga is said to have tabled recordings to have Ssekikubo disciplined. NRM Caucus officials are expected to address the media today.

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com

MY TAKE
Museveni is doing a good job on this, he should not let even 1% of Ugandan oil exported as crude! all refining should take place in Uganda for the sector to have a real effect on the country!

Geza Ulole

January 26th, 2012, 02:12 PM

EAC, Nordic Africa Institute sign MoU

EAC logoEast African Community Secretariat, Arusha, Tanzania, 26 January 2012: The East African Community and the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the EAC Secretariat headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.

The MoU creates a framework of cooperation with the overall objective of mobilizing the Institute’s competences and capacities and strategically using them to support the EAC’s regional integration agenda.

The cooperation will be realized under the Research and Capacity Development Partnership Programme (RCDPP), through which NAI will provide intellectual support to the EAC in matters related to the four clusters of its research competence, namely; globalisation, trade and regional integration; conflict, security and democratic transformation; rural and agrarian change, property and resources; urban dynamics.

EAC’s Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors Mr. Jean Claude Nsengiyumva, who represented the EAC Secretary General at the ceremony said with the MoU in place he was confident that the bloc and the Nordic Africa Institute would work together in a more coordinated manner.

Meanwhile the Nordic Africa Institute Director Carin Norberg lauded this step geared at enhancing collaboration, noting that the MoU “will open up avenues for us and our cooperation” and that it would expand research activities and knowledge to the mutual benefit of both parties.

The broad areas of co-operation will include research, publication of research findings, dissemination of research findings, professional development and joint mobilization and deployment of resources.

About the Nordic Africa Institute

The Nordic Africa Institute (Nordiska Afrikainstitutet) is a center for research, documentation and information on modern Africa in the Nordic region. Based in Uppsala, Sweden, the Institute is dedicated to providing timely, critical and alternative research and analysis of Africa in the Nordic countries and to strengthen the co-operation between African and Nordic researchers.

Source: http://www.nai.uu.se/about/

For more information please contact: Owora Richard Othieno, Head of Department; Corporate Communications and Public Affairs; Tel: 255-768-835021; Email: othieno@eachq.org

Do you have a story or an article to publish? Please email us to submit@in2eastafrica.net.
http://in2eastafrica.net/eac-nordic-africa-institute-sign-mou/

Geza Ulole

January 26th, 2012, 02:19 PM

MOTISUN Holdings Ltd, though not among Tanzania's oldest companies, is one of the most prominent firms without which the local manufacturing sector can hardly be sufficiently profiled.

With six subsidiaries already operating under the group that started in 1992, the two-decade company seems to have achieved what many organisations have failed to attain in centuries. MM Integrated Steel Mills Limited, Kiboko Pre-Coated Sheets Limited, MM Industries Limited, Motisun Oxygen Company Limited, Motisun Industries Ltd and Sayona Drinks Limited are the six subsidiary companies under Motisun.

MM Integrated Steel Mills, which was established to tap the immense business potentials of the then large quantities of scrap metal in the country, is the largest company under the group, described as the first plant in Tanzania's 50 years of independence and the early product of the Investment Promotion Centre, currently Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC).

The industry started with induction furnace with three-ton melting furnace capacity per melt; seven strand steel rolling mill with annual installed capacity of 15,000 metric tonnes; and engineering workshop with special tool rooms for preparation and repair of the pass-rolls.

And, according to the Motisun Group Chairman, Mr Subhash Patel, the MM Integrated Steel Mills whose Dar es Salaam-based plant's installed annual capacity has reached 24,000

tonnes of corrugated iron sheet, has expanded its operations beyond Tanzanian borders with a 20 million US dollars (about 35bn/-) plant in Zambia.

"We have production in Lusaka already and we are setting up another plant for steel products in Jinja, Uganda," Mr Patel told the Daily News in an interview in Dar es Salaam. He said the Zambian plant is strategically set, targeting the potential markets in DRC Congo, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Angola and Botswana:

"We envisage strengthening the relationships with the potential markets in the South and securely capturing the steadily growing flat steel demand." Mr Patel said the group is already exporting, albeit, indirectly, "We don't export ourselves but there are people who buy our products and sell them in Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia and Malawi."

The manufacturing group, according to the chairman, has pre coated sheets as its main product. Kiboko Pre Coated Sheets Limited is a major unit of the group that produces pre coated colour steel sheets in various profiles. It's the first plant in Tanzania's history of 50 years of independence.

The unit brags its 4Hi cold rolling mill that produces cold rolled coils using pickled and oiled steel coils that are produced in their own pickling plant with modern systems. The major products under this unit include Mysore tile, Manglore tile, Lugoba tile, Mandera tile, valley and gutter.

True to a statement that entrepreneurs see opportunities where others encounter problem, the MM Industries Limited-Pet Plant, incorporated in 2005, was conceptualised out of the national environmental problem of plastic bottles that were eye sorely littering the streets. The concept of Pet containers has revolutionised the local plastic industry, with MM Industries becoming the best suppliers of pet bottles to corporate manufacturers and household manufacturing facilities.

It produces and supplies different sizes of plastic bottles of 250, 350, 500 and 650ml as well as one, two, five and 20- litre water plastics. MM Industries Limited-Kiboko Water Tank is currently among the leading producers of water tanks of various sizes, ranging from 200 to 10,000 litres.

Incorporated in 2005, the firm, besides boasting of being the best supplier of water tanks to companies and households, it also manufactures school furniture, garden furniture, plastic septic tanks and plastic holding tanks. MM Industries Limited-Kiboko PVC produces and supplies PVC pipes, pressure pipes, drainage pipes and irrigation pipes up to 16 inches as well as bore well pipes for bore holes.

The company's HDPE coil pipes of up to 400mm are available in A to E classes. "The firm is the best supplier of PVC/HDPE pipes all over Tanzania," says Mr Patel. Under the group also is Motisun Industries Limited which specialises in making and repairing moulds and dies, including product development in plastics and all kinds of rubber products-and filters for all vehicles, machines and engineering parts.

Says Mr Patel, "We have introduced electroless nickel, the first in East Africa, that process up to 20 micrones with mirror finish." The only beverage company under the group- Sayona Drinks Limited (SDL) -is the pioneer of carbonated soft drinks-juices, water and carbonated drinks-in plastic bottles. The firm has recently acquired a state-of the art machinery to boost production at its Mikocheni based factory.

The 2.2 million US dollars (over 3bn/-) expansion project seeks to triple production of Sayona soda from the current 100,000 to 240,000 bottles a day. The company has rebranded its Sayona soft drink as 'Sayona Twist.'

Under the rebranding, Sayona Soda becomes 'Sayona Twist Soda.' The five-year old SDL, which boasts of hi-tech infrastructure, skilled manpower, strict bottling procedures and high quality raw materials, says it's determined to cope with the competition by offering products of best quality to consumers.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201112060481.html

Geza Ulole

January 26th, 2012, 02:36 PM

Tanzania,China sign $3b coal,steel project
Monday, 26 September 2011 08:46 EABW Reporter
Print
DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - At long last Tanzania has signed a US$3 billion coal and steel mining agreement with a Chinese company that will open huge potential in the generation of coal-fired electricity, creation of some 40,000 people, and holds potential for an iron and steel industry.
The Tanzania Government signed the agreement with the Chinese mining conglomerate, Sichuan Hongda Group, at a ceremony hosted by the National Development Corporation (NDC) - a state-owned agency that represents state interests in the public-private undertaking.
To show serious resolve in the energy and iron ore mining project, the signing ceremony was witnessed by high powered Government presence comprising Vice President Ghalib Bilal, Industry and Trade Minister Dr Cyril Chami, chairmen of the Parliamentary Committees of Industry and Trade - Mahmoud Mginwa, and Public Organizations Accounts Committee - Zitto Kabwe and the NDC Board chairman - Chrisant Mzindakaya.
The Chinese side signatory was the Sichuan Honggdo Group CEO, Liu Juan, witnessed by a representative of the National People's Congress of China - Liu Canglong, and the Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania, Liu Xinsheng.
This integrated mining project is the second largest Chinese undertaking in Tanzania after the Tanzania-Zambia railway construction which cost $500 million in the 1970s. It runs 1860km from Dar es Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi.
When fully implemented, the project located in the southern highlands, will certainly accelerate economic development, eliminate power shortages which are hurting the country's economy, mark the start of an iron and steel industry as well as accelerating economic development of the southern Mtwara Corridor from Mtwara Port to Lake Nyasa. It will also ease availability of the strategic hard metal to the East African Community region for construction of infrastructures such as the planned Dar-Kigali railway and accelerate and an iron and steel industry in the region.
The coal-to-electricity project is planned to generate 600MW of electricity for the national grid and to power the expected iron and steel operations.
The Sichuan Hongda Company is expected to start operations with the integrated coal-fired power generation in six months from now, and embark on the two iron and steel mining projects in 36 months. The Group assured Tanzania it has already set aside $600 million for the initial stages of the first phase to speed up its commencement.For the first time in Tanzania, the Government has successfully negotiated for a joint venture by owning 20 % shares, with possibility to rise to 49 %. Most mining operations in the country of gold and other minerals have been 100 % foreign owned.
Sichuan Hongda earlier this year beat 20 other international companies in bidding for the comprehensive mining operations and power generation, including Rio into, BHP Billiton, Nava Bharat (Singapore) Pte Ltd - a unit of Nava Bharat Ventures Ltd and STX Corporation, among others.
Mchuchuma, located 850 kilometres west of Dar es Salaam, has identified reserves of 536 million tonnes of coal. NDC says studies indicate that the Liganga area is rich in iron, vanadium and titanium minerals. Reserves are estimated to be between 200 and 1,200 million metric tonnes, with 45 million already proven through drilling.
Pilot tests showed that the iron ore can be smelted by the Elkem or Krupp-Renn processes, to produce acceptable low- titanium iron.
http://www.busiweek.com/11/opportunities/1786-tanzaniachina-sign-3b-coalsteel-project-?tmpl=component&print=1&page=

Geza Ulole

January 26th, 2012, 02:38 PM

Tanzania to have East Africa’s biggest steel mill in Bagamoyo

Wednesday, 25 May 2011 23:13

Steel is produced in this file photo. The construction of the Kamal steel mill will start soon in Bagamoyo, Coast Region.

Upon its completion, it will be the biggest steel factory in East Africa.

Dar es Salaam. Kamal Group of Companies has said it will soon start construction of a steel producing mill, tipped to be the biggest in the entire East African region.The company’s chairman, Gagan Gupta, told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the project will cost $222 million (about Sh311 billion). The mill will have production capacity of 700,000 tonnes of steel per year.

“Containers full of equipment and heavy machines worth about $3.2 million have already arrived at the Dar es Salaam port and we expect construction to start soon”, he said.Architects have already finished work on the structural designs paving way for the laying of the foundation stone, according to Mr Gupta.

“Our plans is to make Tanzania and the East African countries spend less by buying from us and save money that could have been spent to buy same materials from some other countries, ” he said.

“A team of engineers is already in Dar es Salaam to inspect the site and take over the remaining job of installing machines”, he said.

Kamal Group Limited is owned by investors from India who have vast experience in the manufacturing and agriculture sectors. The company is also developing an Economic Processing Zone (EPZ) in Bagamoyo, Coast Region.

“So far, 24 plots in the EPZ have been booked by foreign investors from India and the United Arab Emirates from the land which is more than 300 acres”, he said.

He said that the project would offer thousands of direct jobs to Tanzanians when completed.“We are encouraged by the Tanzanian government’s good policy towards investors and we hope we can play a very key role to promote the economy and the people of this great country”, he said.

http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/business/13-local-business/11286-tanzania-to-have-east-africas-biggest-steel-mill.html

Uhuru na Umoja

January 26th, 2012, 05:12 PM

Huge gas deposits found in Tanzania
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/images/stories/05abc.jpg

Tanzania is expected to receive an FDI of around $7 billion from just one company, Ophir Energy and its partners British Gas. Other multinational companies like Petrobras and Statoil are in drilling programmes in 2012.

The country has proven natural gas deposits of about 7 trillion cubic feet. It is estimated that Tanzania will confirm around 60 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from the current 7 trillion cf.

About 3.5 trillion cubic feet of the reserves have already been commercialized with natural gas wells being drilled in Songo Songo and Mnazi Bay gas fields. Tanzania’s gas reserves border those of Mozambique in the Ruvuma basin where commercial natural gas reserves of about $800 billion have been discovered by Eni SpA and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. The reserves are 36 times more valuable than Mozambique’s economy.

Exploration status
Preliminary exploration reports have also indicated the presence of oil in Mozambique. Similar results are expected in Tanzania soon.

for more info: www.thecitizen.co.tz (http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/magazines/-/19243-huge-gas-deposits-found-in-tanzania)

:cheers:

bantugbro

January 26th, 2012, 05:33 PM

Tanzania,China sign $3b coal,steel project

Tanzania to have East Africa’s biggest steel mill in Bagamoyo

Huge gas deposits found in Tanzania
.in pure technical terms, make Tanzania a “gas economy” said the minister of Finance'

Truly amazing:)^^:cheers:

mwanamwiwa

January 26th, 2012, 08:20 PM

Panel discussion on proposed EAC Central Bank

6u6k7ocpjCY

TZBoy

February 2nd, 2012, 07:58 AM

The government has said that the establishment of the East African Federation can only become a reality after the full implementation of the Customs Union, Common Market, Monetary Union by the partner states.

This was said yesterday by the Karyabukama Kiliba who is the Director of the Political, Defence and Security department in the Ministry of East African Cooperation.

Addressing reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday the director said there have been misleading reports about Tanzania’s objections to fast-tracking the East African political federation.

“Our government has always been blamed that it has been deliberately delaying various stages of the integration process. The claims are baseless because our country believes that the community has more benefits than costs,” said Kiliba.

The director said however that the government has always been stressing that the integration must go stage by stage as has been stipulated in the treaty that established the EAC.

The treaty states: “The Partner States undertake to establish among themselves and in accordance with the provisions of this Treaty, a Customs Union, a Common Market , subsequently a Monetary Union and ultimately a Political Federation in order to strengthen and regulate the industrial, commercial, infrastructural, cultural, social, political and other relations of the Partner States to the end that there shall be accelerated, harmonious and balanced development and sustained expansion of economic activities, the benefit of which shall be equitably shared.”

The government stressed that it is only when all the stages of the integration are fully accomplished, that it can say for sure that it is ready to discuss modalities of the political federation.

Kiliba said however that they wanted to avoid the pitfalls that led to the collapse of the former EAC in 1977. “We don’t want to repeat similar mistakes which could lead to the collapse of the current community,” stressed the director.

“Our government must safeguard and defend the interests of its people in all the discussions concerning the integration just as the other member states of the East African Community are safeguarding and defending their peoples’ interests,” he stressed.

He said a political federation is a fourth stage in the integration process and therefore it can’t be discussed differently from other stages of the integration adding: “We must effectively and appropriately implement a Customs Union, a Common Market, and later a Monetary Union.”

On the rule of consensus which Tanzania supports, the director said the rule is very important in meeting the ends of the integration. The rule calls for not using votes, but for members to agree with each other.

Kiliba said if the rule is broken and votes are called for, then the integration will not be reached.

“It is so because no member state will accept to be dragged by another member,” he noted.

In November last year, Tanzania refused to sign key EAC documents which included the controversial land, foreign and security issues.

BY PATRICK KISEMBO
http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=38047

BUTEMBO21

February 2nd, 2012, 08:23 AM

In November last year, Tanzania refused to sign key EAC documents which included the controversial land, foreign and security issues.

BY PATRICK KISEMBO
http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=38047

Let other members own land there.

nairoberry

February 2nd, 2012, 09:07 AM

the security thing will happen. it doesnt make alot of sense not to have a common defense strategy.

as long as there is an EAC a common defense strategy is a pre-programmed reality.

ja'far

February 2nd, 2012, 08:05 PM

Geza Ulole

February 2nd, 2012, 09:01 PM

Let other members own land there.

and then to be like the eastern DRC where there are Intarahamwe, Mayumayu and Banyamulenge all Congolese but claiming to be Rwandans though they lived there over 100 years!

èđđeůx

February 2nd, 2012, 11:34 PM

The government has said that the establishment of the East African Federation can only become a reality after the full implementation of the Customs Union, Common Market, Monetary Union by the partner states.

Sounds reasonable. I don't see why all of this couldn't be implement in 5 year phases each, meaning 15 years before political federation (plenty of time to adjust to one another no?)

TZBoy

February 3rd, 2012, 01:33 AM

Sounds reasonable. I don't see why all of this couldn't be implement in 5 year phases each, meaning 15 years before political federation (plenty of time to adjust to one another no?)

+100 I agree, this should not be rushed just for the sake of having a political federation.

èđđeůx

February 3rd, 2012, 02:34 AM

Legal backing sought to break EA trade barriers
http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/2012/02/legal-backing-sought-to-break-ea-trade-barriers/
Business leaders in the East African Community are pushing for the development of legally binding mechanisms that will compel member States to implement measures that can eliminate Non Tariff Barriers (NTBs).

Uganda Clearing Industry and Forwarding Association National Chairman Kassim Omar argued on Thursday that the region needs a system that guarantees breaking down of the numerous NTBs that hamper smooth and efficient trade.

“We feel that there is need to take a drastic step…there has to be an enforcement system that we hope will ensure that the countries within the region comply with the rules they have agreed upon,” he said.

“I propose that the costs attributed to specific cases should be paid by the (offending) partner states and that where sanctions must apply, then the same partner States should experience the same problems,” he argued.

EAC Secretary General Richard Sezibera was however quick to point out that these issues were being addressed both at the Secretariat level and at the grass-root.

For instance he disclosed, they had commissioned a study that would inform the NTBs that should be subjected to the legal system or arbitration. The region’s top leadership had also committed to fast track infrastructure projects across the bloc, he added.

Further, he revealed that his office would be holding quarterly meetings with Chief Executive Officers of major companies across East Africa as well as the technocrats to review the progress made.

The challenge of NTBs aside, Sezibera said good progress in regional integration was being made as evidenced by the increase intra-EAC trade.

According to preliminary figures, intra-EAC trade is estimated to have grown fivefold in 2011. Currently, this trade stands at $3.5 billion or 11.9 percent of the total trade within the region.

“The figures that I have seen show an over 50 percent growth in this but we are still taking another look at them because they seem to be much higher than we thought they would be,” he added.

Sezibera attributed this ‘very encouraging’ growth to the near full implementation of the Customs Union, the enthusiasm of the private sector towards the Common Market Protocol as well as the attraction of the region as an ideal investment destination.

u.g boy

February 3rd, 2012, 05:00 PM

Kampala metro BRT
KCCA to redesign City roads to accommodate buses
NEWS | FEBRUARY 3, 2012 AT 12:40 PM |

Kampala Capital City Authority finalized plans to redesign city roads to create special lanes for city buses starting early March.On Tuesday, Jennifer Ssemakula Musisi, the KCCA executive director said government signed a contract with Pioneer Easy Bus to provide bus services in the city centre.

She said the arrangement is near completion adding that a total of 100 out of the 500 buses have already docked at Mombasa awaiting clearance to Kampala.Musisi said starting early March bus services shall be available for city dwellers alongside taxis on major routes in and out of the city centre.

She said among the modalities on the city roads to ease traffic and accommodate the buses include marking specific lanes and prohibiting other vehicles from accessing the bus lanes for efficiency.But Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago sounded skeptical about the bus arrangement. He said KCCA has not been availed with the bus agreement government signed with Pioneer Easy Bus Company.

According to Lukwago, the contract would be able to lay out the obligations and duties for KCCA, government and the proprietors.Lukwago said while he supports the idea of introducing buses, prior arrangements need to be worked out to address the basics that include bus parks, bus stops and marking out the lanes.

Alfred Ntambazi, the chairperson KCCA committee on physical planning and engineering said the bus system has already been adopted at the committee level. and Ntambazi said Engineer Andrew Kitaka, the director in charge of engineering and works has been assigned the duty of drafting the flow of traffic with the introduction of the buses.
-Uganda Radio Network

Kampala Railway Service
KCCA to introduce railway services to ease jam
Publish Date: Feb 02, 2012
http://www.newvision.co.ug/newvision_cms/gall_content/2012/2/2012_2$largeimg202_Feb_2012_164912683.jpg
Committee members of the Parliamentary Physical Planning , Lubaga Municipality mayor Joyce Ssebugwawo (second right) and KCCA Physical Planning Officers tour Bawealakata drainage
By Noah Jagwe

THE Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) is planning to introduce railway transport service in the next financial year to reduce traffic in the city centre.

The KCCA Director engineering and Technical Service Andrew Kitaka said before setting off for fact-finding study by the Parliamentary Committee on Physical infrastructure about Kampala Capital City.

He said discussions are underway to implement the project in the next financial year.

Kitaka explained that this is part of the plan to decongest the city in terms of traffic jam in the future.

He also said the council would use the same infrastructure for the Rift Valley Railways.

Kitaka added that Rift Valley was not successful because it never had consent from the public.

He noted that they are soon stopping taxi vehicles and boda-bodas from accessing the city centre as a way to reduce traffic jam.

“We are going to commission a study on the access points” Kitaka said.

“However we request the parliamentary committee on physical infrastructure to increase funding to the KCCA to enable it carry out its plans” he added.

Kitaka also said they are still looking for funding from the government of China to decongest the city with the main emphasis on signalization of Junctions among others.

Kampala City Litter Bins
KCCA Pushes for a Litter Free Kampala…
Posted by filtre on Tuesday, January 17, 2012 in KCCA, litter, national, Uganda |
http://kcca.go.ug/images/gallery/litter_bins/1.jpghttp://kcca.go.ug/images/gallery/litter_bins/2.jpghttp://kcca.go.ug/images/gallery/litter_bins/3.jpghttp://kcca.go.ug/images/gallery/litter_bins/4.jpghttp://kcca.go.ug/images/gallery/litter_bins/5.jpghttp://kcca.go.ug/images/gallery/litter_bins/6.jpg
By: Julius Sseremba
sserembe@gmail.com

The Kampala Capital City Authority has intensified its Garbage Management initiatives in the Central Business District said Jennifer Musisi, the Executive Director of the Authority.

Flanked by the Central Division Mayor, Councillor Godfrey Nyakana, Ms. Musisi announced the roll-out of 650 plastic bins purchased at a total cost of 185 million from Nice House of Plastics.

"We shall also deliver one hundred metallic bins starting next week," she added.

"We must exercise citizen responsibility and handle these bins with care," Councillor Nyakana urged. "They should not be used to dispose of waste from restaurants or private business premises. These bins are meant to help the average person on the street to dispose of litter."

Kampala generates more than 200 tons of garbage per day. Up to 90 percent of this comprises of decomposable, organic matter most of which comes from farm produce.

Over the last two weeks, the Authority has undertaken the implementation of a ten-year-old ordinance. Several individuals, guilty of littering, have been arrested and charged on this offence. The City is noticeably cleaner since the implementation of this ordinance commenced.

Kampala City Street Lights
KCCA commissions sh2b street light project
Publish Date: Nov 24, 2011
http://www.newvision.co.ug/newvision_cms/gall_content/2011/11/2011_11$largeimg224_Nov_2011_124527683.jpg
KCCA Executive Director Jennifer Musisi displays one of the new street lights to be installed in Kampala.
By Juliet Waiswa

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) on Wednesday commissioned the street lighting project ahead of the festive season.

While commissioning the street lights, KCCA executive director, Jennifer Musisi said the project is funded under the Ministry of Energy, and is intended to cover the Central Business District (CDB).

The lights are electrical with a low power consuming capacity which KCCA will be able to facility. The project is estimated to cost sh2bn.

This is the second phase of lighting which KCCA has received. The 2,180 street lights will be installed in the CDB and will running from Kampala road to various other parts.

“We have received a consignment of over 2,000 street lights which we are going to put in the city and its suburbs and by Christmas time the whole city will be lit,” she said.

Musisi said the exercise had already started with Sembule International Limited implementing repairs and fittings for all lights along State Houses Lodge, Nakasero road, Nehru Avenue.
Others installation has taken place are Baker road, State road, princess avenue, Kyaggwe, Ternan, Lumumba, Wilson, Johnson and William street in the Central Business District and will roll out to other Urban centers.

She told the gathering that they should resist from purchasing any lights from KCCA which have been installed adding that anybody found in possession of KCCA property will be arrested.

“These lights are everybody’s responsibility and I ask you to be on the look out if you see anybody selling them not hesitate to call us, or even report to the police,” she said.

In addition to these projects new drainage and sewers are being constructed,around 6 large hospitals are being built in the city major areas and several roads around the city are being rebuilt .The mass redevelopment of Kampala's infrastructure seams to be being spear headed by the new KCCA executive director Jennifer Ssemakula Musisi .

Uhuru na Umoja

February 5th, 2012, 03:47 PM

Uhuru na Umoja

February 5th, 2012, 03:53 PM

Congrat to all Tanzanians for your new found wealth!!!!

Thanks a ton, pamoja sana!:cheers1:

u.g boy

February 5th, 2012, 07:52 PM

Uganda transport sector set for major facelift
http://www.nation.co.ke/image/view/-/1320830/medRes/329389/-/maxw/600/-/gg8w8oz/-/transi.jpg
PHOTO/LABAN WALLOGA Some of the buses imported by Pioneer Easy Bus Company, a Ugandan firm. The company has invested over US$10 million (Sh850 million) in a fleet of 522 modern buses that will operate in Kampala’s central business district.

By GITONGA MARETE gmarete@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Sunday, February 5 2012 at 18:43
Public transport in Uganda is set for major transformation with the launch of a passenger shuttle service that will offer transport services within the country’s capital city.

Pioneer Easy Bus Company (PEB), a Ugandan firm, has invested over US$10 million (Sh850 million) in a fleet of 522 modern buses that will operate in Kampala’s central business district, said Kakooza Savio, the company’s head of security.

“We have signed a concession of over four years with the government of Uganda to provide transport under public-private partnership and the service will start as soon as these buses arrive in Kampala,” he said at the Mombasa port where he was overseeing clearance of the first batch of 100 buses.

Each bus has a capacity of 60 passengers and special seats for the physically challenged and the aged.

“These are some of the most modern buses from the Chinese market designed to take care of all persons without discrimination,” he added.

This development comes at a time when controversy is raging in the public transport sector in Kenya over planned phasing out of the 14-seater matatus from Nairobi’s central Business District.

Matatu owners have protested over the proposal, saying thousands of young Kenyans will be rendered jobless.

The company, Mr Savio said, will replicate the same in other East Africa cities including Nairobi and Mombasa, which are grappling with congestion due to the high number of 14-seater matatus.

“Public transport in East African cities is facing a crisis with massive congestion due to lack of innovation in the sector, and these are the problems we intend to address,” he said.

Mr Herbert Odankie Mucunguzi, PEB marketing manager, said that to start with the buses will be operating within a radius of 10 kilometres before they roll out to a planned radius of 30 kilometres when all 522 buses arrive.

The Kampala Capital Authority (KCCA) has already designated 800 bus stages and bus stops in the greater Kampala metropolitan.

KCCA has a five-year agreement with PEB to run public transport in western and eastern parts of the City.

Mr Mucunguzi said the bus service will provide Ugandans with modern public transport services and offer affordable and scheduled services to all city commuters in Kampala’s eastern parts of Mukono, Luzira, Bweyogere, Ntinda, Mulago, Nakawa, Namugongo.

The buses will also ply western routes of Natete and Rubaga.

Contrary to some taxi operators’ complaints in Kampala that the new buses will drive them out of business, Pioneer, the official said, will create more than 4,000 jobs as the shuttle will operate for 24 hours with an eight-hour shift.

“We are calling on qualified drivers to come and apply for jobs,” he said, adding that the electronic ticketing system it is going to adopt will also create thousands of job opportunities.

u.g boy

February 6th, 2012, 07:31 PM

joSgBz0-rHA

Pioneer Easy Bus Gets First Batch
By Our Reporter,
http://redpepper.co.ug/welcome/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/The-fleet-of-buses-that-arrived-at-Mombasa-last-week.jpg
The fleet of buses that arrived at Mombasa last week

Pioneer Easy Bus Limited (‘PEBL’) has received the first batch of 100 buses at the Mombasa Port, Kenya. John Masanda, Chief Executive Officer, confirmed that the first batch of the 100 buses arrived at the Mombasa Port aboard MV. Delphinus Leader voyage#009 on February 2 after which they will be expected transit to Kampala upon customs clearance.

“We are pleased to announce that the first 100 buses are finally here,” he said. “The buses got here in perfect shape and they shall be on their way to Kampala ahead of operations commencing in March 2012,” he said.

The new buses which have originally been assembled by Yutong Company in China will arrive in Uganda by the end of this month.

kiligoland

February 6th, 2012, 07:49 PM

^^^^ great stuff :cheers:

BUTEMBO21

February 7th, 2012, 04:57 AM

and then to be like the eastern DRC where there are Intarahamwe, Mayumayu and Banyamulenge all Congolese but claiming to be Rwandans though they lived there over 100 years!

Since when where Banyamulenge and Interahamwe were Congolese? :crazy:

And who da hell are mayumayu??????????????

Uhuru na Umoja

February 7th, 2012, 07:37 AM

Tanzania to build $40m mall in Nairobi

Tanzania already owns 17 such premises out of 32 foreign missions worldwide.

The first investment centres were set up in Washington DC and New York a few years ago.

“It is expensive to run a mission abroad and so we want to set up a number of investment centres in strategic areas to generate revenue to meet the costs of our diplomatic missions around the globe,” said the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Bernard Membe

plans are underway to replicate other construction projects at Tanzania’s embassies in Kigali in Rwanda, Maputo in Mozambique, Abuja in Nigeria and Kinshasa in the DRC.

more info: theeastafrican.co.ke/business/ (http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/business/Tanzania+to+build++40m+mall+in+Nairobi+/-/2560/1320572/-/y8523qz/-/index.html)

:cheers1:

bantugbro

February 7th, 2012, 08:24 AM

S.city

February 7th, 2012, 07:02 PM

Kenya: WB Urges Nation to Hasten Investment Plans
By Evelyn Njoroge, 3 February 2012

Nairobi — Kenya needs to speed up its various investment plans and enhance capacity to implement infrastructure projects in order to achieve faster and sustainable growth, a senior World Bank official has said.

Visiting World Bank's Vice President for Sustainable Development Rachel Kyte said on Friday that the country had great opportunities for sustained growth which can only be fully exploited if the government keeps up with the pace of reforms and execution.

"We are optimistic about the possibility for Kenya to sustain quite high growth rates but in order to do that the execution of the very compelling vision for energy, water resources management for transport and infrastructure need to go ahead of pace," she stressed.

This will particularly be crucial in 2012, which is an election year and where historically, economic growth tends to slow down and this calls for increased collaboration between all stakeholders.

The political risks posed by the electioneering period are however not of much concern to the bank which intends to carry out its work in partnership with the government's agencies to ensure that ongoing projects are fully implemented and delivered on time.

At a press briefing, Kyte expressed commitment to assist the government achieve its objectives with the end result being to significantly reduce poverty levels in the country.

In this regard, the World Bank boss disclosed that some Sh125 billion in additional funding would be released over the next two years to fund various projects in energy and water management across the country.

Already, the bank has an investment portfolio of over $2 billion (Sh166 billion) in Kenya which excludes funds from its private arm, the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency.

The official has been on a three day tour of East Africa to take stock of the projects that are being implemented in partnership with the World Bank and expressed her satisfaction at the progress that has been made in Kenya so far.

While pointing to the shocks such as drought, effects of the euro zone crisis and high energy costs that the Kenyan economy has suffered over the last three years, Kyte lauded the government for its response which has helped to lessen their impact on the ordinary citizens.

"The way in which Kenya has come through that series of shocks speaks to stability and strength in the economy and in macro economic environment, which should be applauded," she commended.

The future challenge however will be to maintain a firm grip on fiscal policy while at the same time ensuring a conducive environment that allow more investments both from local and foreign firms.

Such measures for instance include improving efficiency at the Port of Mombasa so as to increase trade and enhance competitiveness of goods from Kenya and East African Community.

S.city

February 7th, 2012, 07:03 PM

East Africa: Altech Group Plans to Set Up Sh830 Million Data Centres in EAC
By Okuttah Mark, 5 February 2012

Altech Group -- the owner of Kenya Data Network (KDN) -- will invest Sh830 million in the next one year to build five satellite data centres within East Africa as it seeks to strengthen its competitiveness in offering leased storage services in the economic bloc.

The company intends to use its satellite facilities to tap into regional financial institutions, mobile telecommunication firms and government departments.

The centres will be connected to a bigger data centre that the group opened in Kenya on Friday and which KDN would use as a hub to relieve the region from seeking data backup services in Europe, South Africa and America.

Craig Venter, the chief executive officer, at Altech said that the five satellite centres would be set up in Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo with their financing done internally by the group, which is listed in Johannesburg bourse.

"We are looking at East Africa region as one market and that is why we are putting a lot of focus in it as it provides us with untapped opportunity in data, which is our core business," Mr Craig told the Business Daily during the opening of data centre in Nairobi on Friday.

Cloud computing

He added: "We already have firms like Bharti Airtel who want to relocate data in their 13 Africa countries here in Nairobi. Others like Equity Bank have also indicated a possibility of using it for redundancy."

Increased use of Internet has created a high demand for information storage either for security or back up among companies.

KDN has in the past year experienced increased competition from other broadband providers such as Telkom Kenya, Jamii Telecoms Ltd and AccessKenya, which has forced it to look for new revenue stream to boost its earnings.

The firm reported a drop in the revenue from Sh3.2 billion to Sh2.1 billion in six months ended August 31 last year, while operating profit dropped from Sh657.2 million to Sh12.6 million in the period under review.

KDN, however, is expected to compete with Safaricom in this market segment and a South African computer firm -- Business Connexion.

Safaricom has teamed up with a local IT firm, Seven Seas Technology, to offer cloud computing, which is one of the services provided by data centre.

Business Connexion on the other hand is targeting government and small businesses with its electronic storage facility that will offer data security and delivery of technology services and software through cloud computing over the Internet to third parties.

It is however yet to launch its services commercially.

S.city

February 7th, 2012, 07:04 PM

Kenya: Mumias Plans Rights Issue for Tana Delta Plant
By Victor Juma, 6 February 2012
Mumias Sugar has announced that it will raise additional cash from shareholders through a rights issue and international banks to help establish a $400 million (Sh33.6 billion) factory in Tana Delta.

The miller said the fundraising will be done before the first half of 2013 and is working on the proportion of money that will be raised from these sources along with its reserves.

The factory, which will be a joint venture with Tana/Athi River Authority (Tarda), is expected to boost the firm's sugar production which has fallen in recent years due to inadequate cane supplies.

This has seen Mumias rely heavily on high sugar prices over the past decade to grow profits in a strategy that is coming under pressure with the fall in sugar prices both in local and international markets.

"The Tarda project will cost $400 million and we will raise the money from our balance sheet, a rights issue, and international lenders," said Peter Kebati, the company's finance director.

"Our recent good rating will help us negotiate for low interest rates on the international loans," he said.

In December, Global Credit Rating Company gave Mumias A+ and A1 long and short- term rating respectively, meaning that the miller is in a healthy financial position, has lots of cash and is unlikely to default.

The rating agency added that the company's heavy investments in new business lines such as power water bottling and ethanol production would further improve its finances in the medium term.

Analysts say the rating of Mumias allows it to borrow at a much cheaper rates compared to the local market where companies are currently borrowing at about 18 per cent."A local private company with an A1 or A+ rating can get an international dollar-denominated loan with an interest rate of between seven and nine per cent," said Robert Bunyi, the CEO of Mavuno Capital.

The miller is avoiding raising the cash from the Nairobi bourse this year because the bearish run at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) could dent the success of the issue.

The millers' share price has shed 41.1 per cent in the past year to stand at Sh5 at in what analysts say is driven by investors' higher expectations which the company has failed to match.

In the six months to December, Mumias posted a net profit of Sh866.6 million, a 4.5 per cent growth over the previous year.

Its revenue dropped to Sh6.9 billion from Sh7.3 billion and the marginal profit growth was pushed by a Sh240 million cut in marketing and distribution costs.

S.city

February 7th, 2012, 07:05 PM

Kenya: World Bank Lines Up Sh128 Billion for Infrastructure Projects

By Geoffrey Irungu, 5 February 2012
The World Bank will lend to Kenya up to Sh128 billion ($1.5 billion) low-interest loans in the next two years to finance infrastructure projects in energy, road and water sectors.

The bank's vice president for sustainable development, Ms Rachel Kyte, said on Friday the funds will be part of a total loan package of $1.9 billion (Sh162 billion) already earmarked for infrastructure projects.

Ms Kyte, who was speaking in Nairobi after touring development projects funded by the bank, said the institution was also keen about the improvement of the Mombasa port.

An area of focus in reforms is the single window system in relation to the port to ensure that it is able to serve not only Kenya, but other countries in the region. What is necessary is the improvement in productivity of the port as is the case for Singapore," said Ms Kyte.

The single window system is an electronic platform for handling cargo and is intended to link all ministries and the Kenya Revenue Authority to quicken processing of imports and exports at the port and safeguard against revenue losses.

The key focus for the bank this year, she said, is on energy and water projects. One of the places Ms Kyte visited was the Olkaria geothermal projects in which the bank has already invested millions of dollars.

She held talks with top government officials including President Mwai Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and ministers of finance, roads and agriculture. During the discussions, Ms Kyte said she had emphasised on the need for partnership not only in carrying out the planned projects, but also in other reforms such as those at Mombasa Port.

S.city

February 7th, 2012, 07:08 PM

Tanzania: Japan Firm to Set Up Assembly Plant in Dar es Salaam

By Ally Hamisi, 6 February 2012
Dar es Salaam — Japanese based motorbike manufacturer, Honda Japan has partnered with a local firm, Quality Motors Limited to put up a modern plant that would assemble motorcycles and other products in Tanzania.

The move will aim at increasing the sales at a time the Japanese motorbike maker was expecting a sharp fall of its sales to 65% in profit from last year to March this year after the earthquakes early last year.

Honda Japan firm's managing director, Tatsuhiro Oyama, said the new motorcycle plant in Dar es Salaam will specifically cater for the growing African market.

He said experts were already in the country to oversee the performance of their products before the new plant takes off.

"We are already in Tanzania to watch over the company's sales performance and also look into new ways of tackling other competitors," he said and adding, that the new assembling would reduce the prices of motorcycles in the country."

Oyama said Honda Japan plans to partner with Quality Motors Limited to assemble and sell Honda products in the country.

He noted that despite the sale of over 15 million units of Honda Japan worldwide, the African market sold only 50,000 units with Nigeria the biggest consumer for the sale of Honda's CRF50F

Oyama said that the poor performance of Honda Japan in Africa was due to the delays in terms of sales network and lack of a specific product designed for the African market, and added that the company has developed a new CB125 Honda motorcycle model that has been designed specifically for the African market.

"We have started producing products that will specifically suit African climate, and we will continue developing new products which are affordable and suitable for the continent, while planning to expand our sales networks in Africa," he said.

According to the general manager of Honda Tanzania, Mr. Kadaba Madhusudan, Honda Japan aimed at introducing a new motorcycle in the local market to cope with the current financial hardship and compete with the dominant Chinese products.

"We have ordered enough units for the Tanzanian market, with about 600 units already in the country," said Mr. Madhusudan.

Chinese based motorcycle manufacturers have been dominating the motorcycle market in Tanzania through their brands including SanLG, Chui and Butterfly which will soon be competing with Honda brands such superbikes, cruisers, touring, Enduro and ATV among others.

u.g boy

February 7th, 2012, 08:39 PM

Uganda and Tullow sign deal to start oil production
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/58279000/jpg/_58279293_013869808-1.jpg
Uganda holds oil reserves which could produce 200,000 barrels a day
Continue reading the main story

Uganda's government has signed production agreements with the London-based company Tullow oil.

The deals pave the way for a $10bn (£6bn) investment in a refinery and crude oil export pipeline.

Tullow will sell two-thirds of its interest in the Lake Albert Rift Basin to a Chinese company, CNOOC and the French firm, Total.

The deal is worth $2.9bn and ends a deadlock with the Ugandan government over future taxes.

Uganda's Oil Minister Irene Muloni said Tullow had accepted the government's revisions to "stabilisation clauses" which are included in the contracts to protect companies from future losses if the government alters tax laws.

Tullow spokesman George Cazenove said the company is happy with the clauses.

"It's important to remember that the Lake Albert Rift Basin development will be a long-term development for Uganda over many years - there's a lot of oil there," Mr Cazenove told the BBC.

"There will be a refinery in Uganda as well as a pipeline."

The oil deposits and refinery should be large enough to meet Uganda's needs, as well as those of some its neighbours, including eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

kiligoland

February 8th, 2012, 05:43 AM

Tanzania: Japan Firm to Set Up Assembly Plant in Dar es Salaam

Honda brands such superbikes, cruisers, touring, Enduro and ATV among others.

Thats my ride :banana::banana::banana:

Dhuks

February 8th, 2012, 09:34 AM

Most of the posts posted here do not justifiably belong here. Its like a bragging point(our country this, our country that instead of east africa this)

tallglassy

February 8th, 2012, 01:52 PM

Most of the posts posted here do not justifiably belong here. Its like a bragging point(our country this, our country that instead of east africa this)

That seems to be East Africans favorite pastime; pissing contests.

bantugbro

February 8th, 2012, 03:35 PM

Most of the posts posted here do not justifiably belong here. Its like a bragging point(our country this, our country that instead of east africa this)

:)

Uhuru na Umoja

February 8th, 2012, 04:10 PM

Most of the posts posted here do not justifiably belong here. Its like a bragging point(our country this, our country that instead of east africa this)

...the spirit of East Africa is never alive!:lol:

Uhuru na Umoja

February 8th, 2012, 04:11 PM

:)
:cheers1:

Uhuru na Umoja

February 14th, 2012, 08:08 PM

Tanzania's current natural gas reserves have risen to more than 10 trillion cubic feet
http://www.defenceweb.co.za/images/stories/MUGSHOTS/MUGSHOTS_NEW/tanzania_president.jpg

"Three offshore gas fields have been discovered in the deep waters and plans are underway to appraise the gas fields for possible development," Ngeleja said.

This brings the total number of gas fields found in the country's offshore area to seven, Reuters reports.

Tanzania is seeking a $1.06 billion loan from China to build a natural gas pipeline from Mtwara region in the southern part of the country to Dar es Salaam, following a sharp rise in energy demand for power generation.

A study by the East African Community shows a separate pipeline to move natural gas from Dar es Salaam to the Kenyan port city of Mombasa would cost up to $630 million.

more info:efenceweb.co.za (http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19395:new-discoveries-boost-tanzanias-gas-reserves&catid=7:Industry&Itemid=116)

:cheers1:

Uhuru na Umoja

February 17th, 2012, 12:36 PM

Statoil finds natural gas offshore Tanzania

Fri Feb 17, 2012 7:21am GMT

OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian oil and gas firm Statoil has encountered indications of natural gas in a "good quality reservoir" in the Zafarani-1 well in Block 2 offshore Tanzania, it said on Friday.

The firm added that it was too early to give any indication on the size and commerciality of the find.

Statoil holds 65 percent of the bloc while ExxonMobil has the remaining 35 percent.

http://af.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=AFJOE81G03520120217

:cheers1:

mwanamwiwa

February 19th, 2012, 12:20 AM

:D

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6776401753_51b43169ea_z.jpg

:runaway:

èđđeůx

February 19th, 2012, 07:51 AM

State to root out graft at Kenya-Uganda border

I-StZVs-KRk

Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Saturday pledged that the government would root out the corruption clogging the Busia and Malaba border points and delaying goods headed to Kenya’s Ugandan neighbours.

Mr Odinga said that Cabinet had sent a team of five ministers to investigate allegations of rampant bribery that was holding up the movement of goods.

The PM added that measures had been put in place to speed up the clearance of cargo at border posts between Kenya and Uganda.

“The cause of long queues at Malaba and Busia was corruption. We cannot allow this condition to go on. It’s a shame on our national conscience and any officer found flouting the law will face the full force of law,” Mr Odinga said.

Mr Odinga was speaking at the launch of Great Lakes Universities’ Education Trust Fund in Kisumu on Saturday where he hosted Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni.

The PM also asked President Museveni to put in place a 24-hour cargo clearance system on the Ugandan side of the border to speed up movement of goods.

On his part, President Museveni said, “I want all these bottlenecks removed to create a conducive environment for business between the two countries. Trade is the source of livelihood to many in the region.”

Daily Nation: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/State+to+root+out+graft+at+Kenya+Uganda+border+/-/1056/1330598/-/lm6h1r/-/index.html

bantugbro

February 19th, 2012, 03:34 PM

No free lunch....:)

Kenya - Tanzania border closed over row on vehicle levy

http://www.nation.co.ke/image/view/-/1330686/highRes/334127/-/maxw/600/-/ng75jyz/-/KRA-Namanga.jpg
Border town Namanga which is between Kenya and Tanzania. Photo/FILE

By ANTHONY KITIMO
Posted Sunday, February 19 2012 at 12:52

The Kenya - Tanzania border in Taveta has been closed after motorist protested the increment of vehicle levy by Tanzania authorities.
The Tanzanian government has imposed a vehicle levy of USD200 for vehicles entering its borders.

Stranded travellers at the border have asked the Kenya and Tanzania governments to resolve the situation.

From Saturday, authorities from the two countries have held discussions on the issue, which has jeopardised the free movement of goods and people across the border.

“We have passengers who were heading to Moshi but we cannot move because of the new rules, which have been imposed by the Tanzanian government,” said Mr Salim Abushir, a driver with the Tahmeed Bus Services.

Mr Simon Karasha, a tour van driver accused Tanzanian Immigration officials of harassing travellers whenever they tried to cross the border.

“It is a pity that Tanzanians can trade in Kenya without any problem. We want out government to resolve the problem,” said Mr Karasha.

He added, “We cannot take tourist to Tanzania because of unknown reasons yet they (Tanzanians) can visit different tourist destinations in Kenya.”

The Daily Nation has established that Tanzanian traders plying trade at the busy Taveta market do so without valid work permits unlike their Kenyan counterparts who have been forced to acquire work permits to conduct business in Tanzania.

mwanamwiwa

February 19th, 2012, 03:42 PM

:ohno:

What a stupid move.Its no surprise though,this is what happens when you have illiterate and visionless leaders.

Mintali

February 19th, 2012, 06:01 PM

I think its time the Kenyan govt stopped being good

mwanamwiwa

February 19th, 2012, 06:20 PM

^^
+1

èđđeůx

February 19th, 2012, 06:26 PM

tallglassy

February 19th, 2012, 06:44 PM

We are much better off forming a union with Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda!

tallglassy

February 19th, 2012, 07:00 PM

There needs to be some penalty slapped on members of the common market that pull of stunts like this. Either you're 100% dedicated to eroding inhibitors to cross-border trade over time, or you're not.

I used the Lunga Lunga border while going to Zanzibar and it was probably the worst experience in my life. Racism is ALIVE I tell you! All the Arabs and Indians were treated like gods on the Tanzanian side, they were ushered through and the Africans (Kenyans and Tanzanians) we told to make a line at a run down tent with two illiterate buffoons fondling with a syringe who for 10,000 Tanzanian Shillings were supposed to vaccinate us for yellow fever before we entered Tanzania.
The Kenyans lost it! We demanded to know why the Arabs went through and a lady whipped out her mobile and called the Tanzanian embassy. The immigration officer who is more of a senior bribe collector was scared and made a deal with us, he apologized and ushered us through. Our bus was pulled over every 10 KM by some traffic policemen dressed like sailors who were bribed by the driver and we learnt they were asking for the equivalent of KSH 20 each time.
On our way back, the experience was the same but we had learnt that all their officials are seeking bribes and if you stand your ground they will back down. I almost kissed the ground on the Kenyan side. Ours is a more open economy while we are dealing with protectionists who have the worst business environment in the whole of EA and are scared stiff of everyone and everything. Traders are frustrated by Tanzanian officials day in day out and that is why this whole EA community should only be with sensible partners! Kenyans do not need work permits in Rwanda and we can travel to Rwanda using our national IDs and the same applies to Rwandese citizens visiting Kenya. We are much better off aligning with Uganda Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, South Sudan and any other country that is not xenophobic.

With all due respect! :)

I.M Boring

February 19th, 2012, 07:03 PM

Come on guys, Tanzania really needs any cash it can get, so I think this kind of thing can be overlooked for the time being.

Malaika254

February 19th, 2012, 07:40 PM

No free lunch....:)

This is not something to gloat over. Look at the bigger picture here,this is a big blow to intra-African trade. How will we achieve regional cohesion with such high handedness?

bantugbro

February 19th, 2012, 09:03 PM

This is not something to gloat over. Look at the bigger picture here,this is a big blow to intra-African trade. How will we achieve regional cohesion with such high handedness?

This is a one sided story and most of you are buying it on face value, please dig deep before making those kind of accusations....^^

bantugbro

February 19th, 2012, 09:08 PM

Are political unstable countries being isolated...:ohno:
Tanzania plans a railway line to reach South Sudan
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/image/view/-/1330206/medRes/334005/-/maxw/600/-/10i4pvo/-/railway.jpg
The project will help ease congestion at the Dar es Salaam port. Picture: File By LEONARD MAGOMBA

Posted Saturday, February 18 2012 at 16:12

Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda have reached a formal agreement to construct a multi-billion dollar railway network, which would also serve South Sudan and tap into the bloc’s growing trade.

The project, to commence in 2014, is expected to take three years and cost $4.7 billion.

This will run alonsgside the $3 billion Tanga-Arusha-Musoma-Kampala railway line that is expected to be completed by 2015.

Tanzania and Uganda signed an agreement with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation to undertake a feasibility study and implementation of the project, which will be the main gateway of Mwambani Port in Tanga, Musoma dock and Port Bell in Uganda.

“We are expecting to handover the feasibility study by April while construction of the 880km railway line is expected to be completed by 2015.” the Chinese engineering firm managing director Wang Xiangdong said,

Mr Xiangdong said the railway line will be constructed to the 1,435mm, which is the standard gauge used in other countries and directed by both states.

The project will see Tanga and Musoma ports dedicated to handle cargo, traffic destined to Uganda and South Sudan. Beyond that the project will help to ease congestion at Tanzania’s principal’s port, Dar es Salaam.

Freight would be conveyed from Musoma by ferry to the Port Bell pier -- about 350km of transportation in the lake. A rail connection already runs via Tororo to Gulu – nearly 600km – on the Pakwach branch.

A new line of roughly 250km would be constructed to Juba, and a further 550km to the Wao railhead in South Sudan.

Source:
nation.co.ke

Mintali

February 19th, 2012, 09:19 PM

^^If wishes were horses......

bantugbro

February 19th, 2012, 09:21 PM

The cost of instability:ohno:

tallglassy

February 19th, 2012, 09:27 PM

Obsession :banana::banana::banana:

bantugbro

February 19th, 2012, 09:30 PM

Obsession :banana::banana::banana:

Pasted as it appeared on the NMG website....no salt added:)

tallglassy

February 19th, 2012, 09:37 PM

Pasted as it appeared on the NMG website....no salt added:)

Good for you! :)

Malaika254

February 19th, 2012, 10:06 PM

This is a one sided story and most of you are buying it on face value, please dig deep before making those kind of accusations....^^

I need not dig any deeper. Chest thumping over obstacles to free trade in a region that is supposedly pushing for economic integration of member countries, is not only absurd and mind boggling, it is pathetic!

TZBoy

February 19th, 2012, 11:41 PM

I used the Lunga Lunga border while going to Zanzibar and it was probably the worst experience in my life. Racism is ALIVE I tell you! All the Arabs and Indians were treated like gods on the Tanzanian side, they were ushered through and the Africans (Kenyans and Tanzanians) we told to make a line at a run down tent with two illiterate buffoons fondling with a syringe who for 10,000 Tanzanian Shillings were supposed to vaccinate us for yellow fever before we entered Tanzania.
The Kenyans lost it! We demanded to know why the Arabs went through and a lady whipped out her mobile and called the Tanzanian embassy. The immigration officer who is more of a senior bribe collector was scared and made a deal with us, he apologized and ushered us through. Our bus was pulled over every 10 KM by some traffic policemen dressed like sailors who were bribed by the driver and we learnt they were asking for the equivalent of KSH 20 each time.
On our way back, the experience was the same but we had learnt that all their officials are seeking bribes and if you stand your ground they will back down. I almost kissed the ground on the Kenyan side. Ours is a more open economy while we are dealing with protectionists who have the worst business environment in the whole of EA and are scared stiff of everyone and everything. Traders are frustrated by Tanzanian officials day in day out and that is why this whole EA community should only be with sensible partners! Kenyans do not need work permits in Rwanda and we can travel to Rwanda using our national IDs and the same applies to Rwandese citizens visiting Kenya. We are much better off aligning with Uganda Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, South Sudan and any other country that is not xenophobic.

With all due respect! :)

I'm sorry to hear you had that experience when crossing over to TZ. It is a shame and more work has to be done in making sure such things are the thing of the past. :)

I have never used that border crossing but i won't be surprised if corruption was rampant there. The whole Arab and Indian worshiping all needs to stop. I do not mind East Africans coming over to Tanzania and hearing that happens to the people is unacceptable.

Viva le EAC :cheers:

Uhuru na Umoja

February 21st, 2012, 12:01 PM

Firm seals deal to explore gas and oil
http://www.politicsafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Kikwete.jpg

Addressing stakeholders during the signing ceremony yesterday, Minister for Energy and Minerals William Ngeleja said Swala was the first investor to team up with Tanzanians in oil and gas exploration.

“Some company shares will be set aside for local communities surrounding the oil and gas exploration fields,” Mr Ngeleja said, “and others will be listed at the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange.”

Oil and gas exploration activities are rising rapidly in the country. Ten wells will be drilled this year.:)

more info: tanzanianews.com (http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/news/4-national-news/19936-firm-seals-deal-to-explore-gas-and-oil)

:yawn:

bantugbro

February 21st, 2012, 01:54 PM

Safi sana, mambo yanazidi kuwa mazuri...Inshalaah!^^

Dhuks

February 21st, 2012, 05:03 PM

This is a one sided story and most of you are buying it on face value, please dig deep before making those kind of accusations....^^

I would be glad to hear the other side. Am however taking it in the context of what J.K said is the financial position of his Govt; He needs every penny possible but then again Good for Tz ,bad for East Africa.

bantugbro

February 21st, 2012, 07:32 PM

I would be glad to hear the other side. Am however taking it in the context of what J.K said is the financial position of his Govt; He needs every penny possible but then again Good for Tz ,bad for East Africa.
I don't think think this is a new fee, the question is how much were they paying before? ...

Again the spirit of EAC need to respect sovereign nations laws failure to that the progeny will be a total emasculation of the idea as a whole...:)

tallglassy

February 21st, 2012, 08:18 PM

The writing is on the wall and it seems like there is a home and partners unwilling to share it or live by the rules of the home. The EAC was ratified by our governments with the view of forming an economic bloc and political a fully functioning federation. A few years down the road, the Tanzanian government which was part of the initial agreement has been a stumbling block and their argument is the fear of being overrun by other nations. In all polls conducted Tanzanian citizens are overwhelmingly against the EAC and it is their right to then leave the community or for the rest to move on!

Tanzania is still the only country that bars other East Africans from getting jobs in Tanzania.

Only two weeks ago, It was reported in our dailies that Tanzania has slapped a 25 per cent tax on Ugandan imports contrary to the signed 2010 customs union among all East African states that bars taxes on member countries’ exports.

Tanzania has declined to sign a defence protocol of all East African countries- a project of the East African Community. Tanzania says it doesn’t want to be mired in the conflicts common to other East African countries. The defence protocol provides that an attack on one makes it a duty for all the rest to rise up in a mutual defence pact akin to Nato.

The High Court in Tanzania ruled against the East African Development Bank in favour of Blueline, a Tanzanian outfit, to the tune of over $137 million which threatens to effectively bankrupt the bank, a survivor of the earlier East African community of the 1970s. You may say the Tanzanian executive has no control over the courts but then East African Community treaty (which Tanzania signed) says member countries should not allow attaching East African community assets. (Tanzania’s Court of Appeal this week ruled that the order against EADB was wrong- Editor)

It is rather simple, If Tanzania does not want to abide by the agreements of the EAC protocol then it can either pull out or the willing parties can go ahead and forge a union of willing partners. The stage seems to be set for that with Kenya and Rwanda already deepening their relationship. Kenyans and Rwandans can travel between their countries with their national IDs and also do not need a work permits. That has seen Kenyan Investors moving into Rwanda and a mutually beneficial relationship. The relationship is similar and much more cordial in Uganda and Burundi and these three countries are aware of the benefits of the community.

tallglassy

February 21st, 2012, 08:19 PM

Long-distance truck drivers will pay instant fines for overloading if the East African Community's top decision making organ adopts a set of proposals to decriminalise the offence and channel the penalty fees into road maintenance.

National roads maintenance agencies will instead impose instant fines on offenders and use the proceeds to maintain and repair roads without causing bottlenecks in the movement of goods.

"We support this shift because it should help solve an array of challenges currently facing the sector. Directing the fines to specific road maintenance agencies is a plus for the protection of roads," said Gilbert Lagat, the Kenya Shippers Council CEO.

To curb corruption that has over the years dogged efforts to enforce road regulations, the EAC Vehicle Load Control Bill 2012 wants payment of fines to be made in a cashless transaction involving use of credit and debit cards, guaranteed bank cheques or electronic transfer of funds.

"It should be a virtual system that makes everything traceable once a case is keyed into the system. Today, a lot of this remain opaque and breeds corruption, which defeats the fight against overloading," Mr Lagat said.

Complicated criminal court procedures have also been blamed for fuelling corruption, handing the operators of overloaded vehicles an easy passage even as key road infrastructure bears the brunt of their actions.

The Bill further proposes the introduction of an appraisal system based on the severity of overloading and recommends suspension of driving and transport operator licences for habitual offenders.

It also fronts for the provision of common weighbridges at border posts and reciprocal recognition of weighing certificates issued by accredited weighing stations in neighbouring states to ease movement of goods.

Transporters who are pushing for adoption of the new laws argue that categorisation of overloading as a criminal case has failed to discourage its practice because the courts have mostly handed the offenders light fines that did not match the damage on roads.

In Kenya for instance, vehicle overload fines are collected by the courts and later transferred to the Exchequer with the Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha), which checks gross and axle weight of vehicles, getting nothing from the court fines.

"It would be noble to hand the task of managing the problem of overloading to the roads authorities, but the mechanism of dealing with the offenders should be above board both in terms of deterrent measures such as fines and integrity of the persons involved," said Eric Aligula, a senior analyst on infrastructure at the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (Kippra). A study conducted in 2011 by the Japan International Co-operation Agency (Jica) showed that the elimination of overloading would save East Africa some $24 million in road maintenance costs every year.

"The cry of our transporters, consumers and producers is that this law be fast-tracked to enable a efficient and transparent transport system that can bring down the high cost of transport and its effect on trade and investment," said Dr Enos Bukuku, EAC deputy secretary-general in-charge of planning and infrastructure.

Of the five EAC member countries, only Tanzania does not consider overloading a criminal act.

Tanzania handles overloading cases administratively with fines being paid instantly at police stations although some criminal provisions remain.

In Kenya, the first conviction for overloading attracts fines of between Sh5,000 and Sh200,000, depending on the excess weights carried ranging from one tonne to 10 tonnes.

Repeat offenders are fined between Sh10,000 and Sh400,000.

While Section 58(2) of the Traffic Act provides for the prosecution of the driver, the owner of the vehicle, and the loader, in most cases only the driver and the owner of the vehicle are prosecuted, even though the loader is identified in the cargo manifest.

The Jica study found that Kenya's regulations have proved inadequate in the fight against overloading and has proposed a raft of changes including the introduction of spot fines and overloading fees based on the level of damage on the road.

"Good (or best) practice would require linking the level of charges/fines for overloading with the actual cost of road damage; imposing economic fees derived from consideration of such factors as pavement damage, travel distances, and a punitive element," JICA says.

The Japanese agency proposes that overloading charges be set at a minimum Sh10, 000, plus and additional penalty of Sh20 per tonne per kilometre travelled for overloading up to 2,000 tonnes.

In instances where transporters exceeded the permitted weight by more than 2,000 tonnes, the agency recommends an additional penalty of Sh380 per tonne for every kilometre travelled.

"Having high fines is critical in curbing future overloading and the new laws do factor that in," Mr Aligula said.

EAC ministers are this week expected to deliberate on the proposed laws that seek to anchor last year's pact to harmonise control of axle load weight in the region.

"It is expected that the coming into force of the law will greatly reduce congestion at weighbridge stations and eliminate bribery since all transactions will be ICT based and all weighing stations will be linked electronically to a central data processing point," The EAC secretariat said in a statement.

The EAC says the regional laws would supersede national laws on vehicle load control if approved during the five-day talks that began in Nairobi Tuesday.

East African countries in August agreed to have a uniform legal weight of 56 tonnes for commercial vehicles using roads in the region.

The agreement requires Kenya to raise its gross vehicle weight limit from 48 (three axles) to 56 tonnes in line with other East African countries to ease movement of goods in the common market. Rwanda and Burundi, with an axle load limit of 53 tonnes, are also expected to raise theirs to 56 tonnes .

Under the proposed system a consignment of cargo cleared in any of the countries would move freely without having to be tested at each weigh bridge as is the case currently.

A uniform axle load for the five East African countries is expected to significantly increase the pace of clearing cargo at the seven weigh bridges in Kenya, eventually lowering cost of transportation.

Kenya has been opposed to any upward adjustments on axle weight limit for commercial vehicles citing increased costs of road maintenance. The country is currently undertaking repairs on 40 major roads at the cost of Sh120 billion.

Roads ministry officials argued that high dependence on the Mombasa port by traders from landlocked countries such as Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi as well as other landlocked neighbours such as South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia means that the roads are always under pressure even at a lower axle weight.

To ease the pressure on roads President Mwai Kibaki issued a decree to lower axle from four (64 tonne) to three, reducing the limit of the gross weight of a truck to 48 tonnes.

Intense lobbying by other EAC partners, however, saw Kenya bow to pressure and accept a uniform load of 56 tonnes.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201202150101.html

tallglassy

February 21st, 2012, 08:26 PM

The envisaged Lamu port will change the lives of the local community, Prime Minister Raila Odinga has said.

Mr Odinga urged locals to support the project instead of opposing it due to fear of losing land.

"This project will change lives here.

We are looking at a project with the capacity of the port of Dubai.

The land you are talking about is just a drop in the ocean compared to the benefits you will get," he told residents during a tour of the construction site Tuesday where he was accompanied by members of the Cabinet sub-committee on Infrastructure.

"Luck knocks once, not twice, and today, luck is knocking on the doors of people of Lamu. As a friend of the people of Lamu, I want to urge you to embrace this project. The benefits will far outweigh the monetary compensation you are asking for."

The PM said the port was the most serious project to be undertaken by the government since independence and warned the provincial administration against authorising sale of land in the area.

The project is set to be commissioned on March 2 as a joint project of the Governments of Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan.

The PM said the road from the port through Garsen to Isiolo would be at par with the Nairobi-Mombasa highway.

Earlier, Mr Odinga issued 1,200 title deeds to Siu residents. He said survey works are over and the government will soon be issuing titles in Mokowe, Mpeketoni, Swahili village and Ras Kitau.

He was accompanied by ministers Chris Obure (Public Works), Otieno Kajwang (Immigration), Amos Kimunya (Transport), Franklin Bett (Road), James Orengo (Lands), Paul Otuoma (Sports), Kiraitu Murungi (Energy) and Njeru Githae (Metropolitan Development).

http://allafrica.com/stories/201202211375.html

Mintali

February 21st, 2012, 08:35 PM

Groundbreaking is in March this year. ^^

mwanamwiwa

February 21st, 2012, 10:32 PM

Mintali

February 21st, 2012, 11:00 PM

The irony in it is that the EAC HQs still remain in Tz.

Geza Ulole

February 22nd, 2012, 12:53 AM

:ohno:

What a stupid move.Its no surprise though,this is what happens when you have illiterate and visionless leaders.

Just a little pay back time! No emotions should be attached! as a retaliation of Kenya's protectionism on wheat trade in their market a US$ 200 levy was imposed for each truck entering Tanzanian soil the more u make noises the more that levy will keep rising! since jungle laws rile in that country of urs! u probably should trade with Al-Shaababs and Southern Ethiopia tribes since they understand jungle laws! read where the story began...

Fresh trade war looms in EA over wheat exports

Tanzanian traders are petitioning the government to stop paying dues to the East Africa Community over Kenya’s refusal to allow wheat imports from their country — a move that could spark a fresh trade war between the two East African countries,
The decision is the culmination of nine months of intense lobbying by Tanzanian wheat traders who claim they are victims of unfair competition since Kenyan goods have flooded their markets.

Mohamed Bashrahil, the sales and marketing manager of Azania Wheat Flour, told The EastAfrican in Dar es Salaam last week that the country was “wasting” its money contributing to the running of the EAC Secretariat, as there were no benefits accruing to Tanzania.

According to Mr Bashrahil, Kenyans were killing the spirit of free trade in the regional bloc by not allowing flour from Tanzania into their country.

“A 30 tonne truck carrying flour into Kenya, for example, attracts almost Tsh19 million ($12,000) in taxes. This is aimed at ensuring they protect their local producers. And as if this were not enough authorities have also refused to honour certificates of origin from Tanzania for no good reason,” he said.

The largest milling company and a major producer of maize and wheat flour in East Africa, Said Salim Bakhresa and Company Ltd (SSB) has also encountered similar problems and has opted to stop exports to Kenya.

Assistant general manager of SSB Hussein Sufian told The EastAfrican in Dar es Salaam last week that his firm and Azania Wheat Flour Ltd invited officials from Kenya and Rwanda — which also bars Tanzania wheat exports — to ascertain the quality of their flour but they “still stuck to their guns.”

“The rules of origin within the Common Market are still not very clear and that is why the Tanzania government has taken up the issue with the EAC Secretariat,” said Mr Sufian.

At the last EAC meeting in Arusha, Tanzania’s Ministries of Trade and Industry as well as East African Co-operation made their case but no consensus was reached.

The Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) recently called on EAC member states to eliminate non-tariff barriers to trade in the bloc.

TCCIA president Aloyce Mwamanga said Tanzanian maize and wheat flour exporters were finding it difficult to access Kenyan and Rwandan markets due to non-tariff barriers.

“In doing business among EAC member states, we face a number of challenges but non-tariff barriers are the most irritating,” said Mr Mwamanga.

According to Mr Mwamanga, Tanzania has the most maize and wheat millers in the region.

“But it is frustrating to see that flour from the country is denied entry into Kenya and Rwanda for reasons only known to Customs officials from the two countries,” he said.

Mr Mwamanga was referring to a recent event in which three trucks carrying 90 tonnes of wheat flour, belonging to the Azania Wheat Flour Mill were allegedly denied entry into Kenya at the Horohoro border post.
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/-/2558/1189114/-/view/printVersion/-/m56pxqz/-/index.html

Geza Ulole

February 22nd, 2012, 12:54 AM

which Union between Kenya and Uganda while u don't talk over Migingo!

mwanamwiwa

February 22nd, 2012, 01:01 AM

which Union between Kenya and Uganda while u don't talk over Migingo!

Stop wasting our time in the union.You should be okay in the SADC or ECOWAS for all we care.Dont worry about Migingo,its no longer an issue if it was ever one to begin with.:cheers:

Geza Ulole

February 22nd, 2012, 01:21 AM

someone accused Tanzania of doing protectionism whereas according to the WTO report Tanzania was not found to be a protectionist but Uganda and Kenya! Lets be fair to Tanzania, hate and propaganda do not solve anything!

Protectionism could hamper global recovery
Shielding domestic producers: The WTO 2009 report urged governments to maintain open trade systems to ensure economic recovery through seamless exchange of goods and services.

Shielding domestic producers: The WTO 2009 report urged governments to maintain open trade systems to ensure economic recovery through seamless exchange of goods and services.

Protectionist policies could delay recovery from the global economic crisis and hurt critical industries, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has warned.

“These actions have acted as sand in the gears of international trade that may retard the global recovery,” it said in a joint report with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the UN trade and development agency (UNCTAD).

They said tariffs, non-tariff measures, subsidies and burdensome administrative procedures pertaining to imports have been applied in recent months, threatening prospects of recovery from the global financial downturn.

“We welcome the G20 governments’ commitment to maintaining open trade and investment regimes and their ability to withstand domestic protectionist pressures,” the joint report said, calling “international rules for trade and investment agreements” a source of opportunity in times of economic growth and a restraining influence in times of difficulty.

In July the WTO listed Kenya among countries using tariff barriers to shield domestic producers against external competition and warned that such measures would restrict trade and weaken the prospects for recovery from the global recession.

Tariff adjustments
The WTO report said that between 1996 and 2006 Kenya had effected upward tariff adjustments of at least 15 percentage points on 250 products and goods, making it one of the top users of tariffs to protect domestic producers.

The revelation effectively exposed Kenya to reciprocal treatment by other WTO members which would ultimately slow down exports growth. Nigeria, Uganda, Madagascar and Zimbabwe also used similar measures to protect domestic producers of 700, 500, 480 and 280 goods and services respectively over the same period.

According to the WTO such measures are typically instituted to protect domestic producers from dumping but there was no evidence that these countries were victims of such trading practices.

“There is, however, a possibility that these countries chose to increase tariffs for the same reasons as the new users of anti-dumping actions because they found it is less costly to increase tariffs than to establish and administer an anti-dumping system,” the WTO said in its World Trade report 2009.

On Monday the WTO, OECD and UNCTAD renewed their call for an end to such protectionist policies and urged governments to maintain open trade systems that would ensure economic recovery through the seamless exchange of goods and services.

Unpredictable markets
“The global crisis is not over and rising unemployment will undoubtedly spark further protectionist pressures in the years to come,” they said.

In an address during the release of the World Trade report 2009 in July, WTO director-general Pascal Lamy warned that although such measures were vital under unpredictable market conditions, unmonitored utilisation could restrict trade.

“This is especially so in times of crisis because widespread use of such measures may take on its own dynamic, such that governments resort to them not in response to a particular unforeseen difficulty, but just because other governments are doing so,” he said.

With the global financial crisis continuing to bite, many countries are expected to resort to using formal as well as informal contingency measures to shield their economies from external competition.

“In times of economic crisis, governments face pressure to adopt measures that may restrict trade and there are real dangers that such pressures, if not addressed adequately, can lead to a dangerous escalation,” Mr Lamy warned.

The three agencies warned yesterday that though stimulus packages were vital to triggering growth, they could turn toxic if governments failed to have in place proper exit strategies.

“It is urgent that governments start planning a co-ordinated exit strategy that will eliminate these elements as soon as possible,” said the heads of the three organisations.

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