PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has directed the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) to establish Katavi as an independent zone for the procurement and storage of food grains.

Launching modern grain storage warehouses and silos in the region at the weekend, she said that the newly launched grain storage facilities will bolster food security, minimize post-harvest losses and increase storage capacity in the region from 5,000 to 28,000 tonnes of grains.

The president stressed the importance of offering fair prices to farmers across the country, while pointing at Karema Port on Lake Tanganyika as a strategic zone for stimulating the growth of people in the area and in the neighbourhood, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Zambia and Burundi.

Karema Port has undeniable economic viability and growth potential, with its economic viability having multiplier effects on societies as a strategic connection to DRC, Zambia, and Burundi, she stated.

The port is potentially instrumental in stimulating business growth in the four riparian states, she asserted.

Closing an occasion of the CCM Parents’ Wing, the party chairperson stressed the strategic importance of the port as a centre of businesses linking people of four counties sharing Lake Tanganyika.

She acknowledged being aware of the region’s desire of getting a passenger ship, telling the audience that the work going on at other ports needs to be completed before big new projects are initiated. “But we will work on it,” she stated.

She also dwelled on suspending fishing activities in Lake Tanganyika for three months, saying it gave room for fish reproduction since the stocks were rapidly declining.

 “We responded swiftly to experts’ opinions that suspending fishing activities for a while would be sufficient to handle the problem,” she said. We did the same for Lake Victoria in the past and people are since then doing lucrative business,” she recalled.

Investments by the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) in uplifting Karema Port had so far reached 47.6bn/-, overhauling port structures to modernity, as modern infrastructure is needed for Great Lakes trading, she said.

Work to overhaul Karema Port infrastructure began in 2019 and was completed in 2022, now being operational 24 hours, located 130 kilometres from Katavi town. The distance from Karema Port to DRC’s Kalemie and Moba ports is 338km and 298km respectively.

Lake Tanganyika is the world’s longest freshwater lake and is shared among four countries, with the length of 676 kilometre and among the deepest lakes in the world with 1,470m, while being the second largest lake in Africa after Lake Victoria.

In addressing the Parents Wing closing session, President Samia reaffirmed the government’s commitment to put to effect recommendations by the Criminal Justice Commission, pointing at the need to improve the police force infrastructure.

Inaugurating a regional police headquarters building, urged the public to closely support the work of the police to ensure steady protection of people and their properties.

She also inspected progress in the construction of the Katavi Regional Referral Hospital, underscoring government efforts to strengthen health services, particularly maternal and child health care nationwide.

Residents in the region need to collaborate with public agencies to combat early pregnancies, ensuring that girl children have unconstrained access to education and an opportunity to achieve their dreams.