PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has asserted that local industries can come up with a ‘block chain’ arrangement where one manufacturer can supply production tools to another and vice versa.

This instruction was issued when launching a vehicle assembly plant operated by Saturn Corporation Ltd, a distributor of the Howo brand of trucks, which the president praised for increasing employment opportunities.

Such investments create more industrial sector jobs, vital for economic growth and supporting other sectors like agriculture, she said, elated that the firm has already rolled out 250 direct jobs and 1800 indirect jobs.

This will stimulate money circulation in its Kigamboni location and the city of Dar es Salaam as a whole, she stated, underlining that the plant’s inauguration is evidence that current investment policies can bring positive results.

After company officials had informed the president that the number of spare parts used in the assembly plant are more than 2,400 and mostly imported, potentially curbing its growth prospects, the president said the plant provides additional opportunities in manufacturing. 

The country can benefit from industry producing spare parts and machines taking into account we’ve under-utilised iron ore and coal deposits in Mchuchuma and Liganga, she said

Prof Kitila Mkumbo, the Planning and Investment state minister in the President’s Office, said that the economy has experienced steady growth for most of the past three decades hovering at six percent, with agriculture, services and infrastructure construction accounting for most growth.

Industrial sector has seen fast growth but it only had a 10 percent contribution to the economy. Its growth rate was hampered by electricity power cuts, pushing the government to address the matter and ensure power supply is efficient.

A total of 526 projects registered by the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) last year had 237 projects in manufacturing, and 45 percent is the leading project creating sector, he said, noting that industrial sector contribution to GDP will be rising in the future.

Rehmtullah Habib, the company director, said the plant’s construction was completed on March 10, with a total of 150 vehicles produced. The industry can assemble 30 tractors and nine tipper trucks, with the level of production depending on market demand, he said.

Implementation of the project took consideration of directives in the country’s investment policy, to ensure there is transfer of knowledge from Chinese experts to local engineers, he said, citing the wish to reduce the number of expatriates from 18 to four in future, paving the way for operations of the industry to be locally driven by 85 percent.

In her remarks, the president similarly reminded the gathering that the government reduced corporate tax from 30 percent to 10 percent for five years starting this year, to attract more industrial investments.