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PM asks Japan to support Dar ring road project
2007-05-01 10:14:41
By Guardian Reporter
Prime minister Edward Lowassa has requested the Japanese government to support the Dar es Salaam city road expansion scheme as well as finalize the study it had carried out on the roads` situation.
He made the request yesterday when he met the Japanese Chairman of the Diet Affairs Committee of the Upper House, Tetsaro Yano (MP) and his delegation at his Magogoni office in Dar es Salaam.
The Premier requested Yano to look into the possibility of supporting the Ring Road Project adding that, if successful, the move would reduce traffic congestion in the city`s roads as well as save the man hours that are lost on the queues.
``The Ring Road Project is very important to us because we want to save the man hours that are lost on the queues,`` he said.
``The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had already conducted a study on how to expand the Dar es Salaam roads, they only need to update it,`` he told Yano.
In September 2006, the former Japanese Ambassador to Tanzania, Katsyuda Ikeda assured Premier Lowassa on the construction of Mangaka–Masasi Road, except for the Mangaka-Tunduru portion which was still under discussion. ``Basically we are ready to tackle that road, but we are still looking for financiers,`` he assured the Prime Minister.
Yano, who was accompanied by three other MPs from Japan, told Premier Lowassa that his colleagues would move to the technical side of it and he would present the matter to his government.
The Japanese Ambassador to Tanzania, Makoto Ito also attended the meeting.
Yano also extended an invitation for Premier Lowassa to visit Japan at his earliest possible time and promised that he would make a follow up on funding the Ring Road project as soon as he got home. He leaves the country tomorrow.
Meanwhile Christina Mwangosi reports that Japan will double its Oversees Development Assistance (ODA), to African countries including Tanzania, to the tune of US dollars 1.68 billion by December this year.
This was revealed yesterday when the Minister for Planning, Economy and Empowerment Dr. Juma Ngasongwa met the Japanese Delegation led by former Japanese Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Tetsuro Yano.
Yano said Japan was also committed to debt cancellation to African countries, Tanzania included.
Yano said Tanzania stood as the largest recipient of Japanese grants and technical assistance in Sub-Sahara Africa.
For his part, Dr Ngasongwa said: ``With generous support from Japan and other Development Partners via General Budget Support, Tanzania had achieved stable macroeconomic fundamentals in the past ten years.
These include an average Gross Domestic Product (GDP), growth rate of above 5 percent and a single average annual inflation rate of around 4.0 percent.``
He said Tanzania had also managed to achieve a status of being among the top ten reformers globally as indicated in the recent World Bank Report.
The minister said the government would increase its efforts in creating a more conducive investment climate for investors.
The Tanzania Investment Center was early this year announced as the best ``one top`` investment center globally.
He said through ODA and in terms of financial aid, Japan had also supported Tanzania in developing specific projects which are also going on well.
``These projects include construction of Masasi- Mangaka Road, whose actual construction will commence next year, Oysterbay power station, Zanzibar water project, HIV/AIAIDS control project, expansion of Kilwa Road which has already started and the Rural Water Supply Project,`` said Dr Ngasongwa.
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