Vice President, Dr. Philip Mpango has encouraged the industrial sector in the country to increase its contribution to the national income and access to foreign currencies.

He made the call yesterday when giving the award to the best producer of the year at the Presidential Manufacturer of the Year Award (PMAYA) organized by the Confederation of  Tanzania Industries  (CTI).

In the awards giving ceremony, Tanzania Cigarette PLC imaged the overall winner followed by Plasco Ltd and ALAF Limited.

The Vice President said the industrial sector is the source of the country's development and has a great opportunity to grow quickly and create employment opportunities and stimulate creativity and technological development.

He said the industrial sector is an important area to increase employment in the country and increase the nation's foreign exchange and it contributes to the growth of other sectors due to producing products that are sold abroad and locally.

"Despite the great importance of the industrial sector in the growth of the national income, the contribution of the sector in this country is still very small, so industrialists should fight to develop the sector," he said.

 "I remember in 20021 I challenged you and today I repeat asking you to increase your contribution in foreign currency income to our economy and to increase employment opportunities to our people," he said.

He said one of the challenges of industrial growth includes the inability to get low-cost loans, shortage of skilled human resources, use of outdated technology, weak infrastructure, and non-tax barriers.

"Now in response to these challenges, joint efforts of stakeholders are needed to increase productivity and increase competition in the industrial sector to produce many products that will compete in foreign markets," said Dr Mpango.

"The government continues to make great efforts to strengthen the transport sector, including strengthening air transport, railways transportation, today I slept in Dodoma and this time I am here in Dar es Salaam," he said.

He said that in an effort to promote industrial development, the government continues to manage the completion of the construction of the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project (JNHPP), where until now its construction has reached 99 percent and some machines have been turned on and generating electricity.

The Vice President congratulated the sponsors of the awards which are Bonite Bottlers Ltd, Alaf Ltd, GF Trucks, TCC, Kilimanjaro Cables, Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Tanzania Port Authority (TPA), Motisun Group and Alliance Life Insurance.

The Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Exaud Kigahe, praised the Confederation of Industrialists (CTI) for the manner in which it has been managing the awarding of industrialists through PMAYA.

The President of CTI, Paul Makanza congratulated the sixth phase government for the way it has continued to create a good environment for investors and listen to their concerns.

"We ask you to convey our greetings to the honorable President Samia Suluhu Hassan, investors and industrialists must thank her for being responsive, we had many challenges but we had round table discussions with various government officials and most of them have been solved," said Makanza.