They have therefore urged the government to stop the construction
of the project, claiming that it does not specifically focus on
benefiting natives but Chinese traders.
Billed to be the largest in East and Central Africa and to serve as
a common entry point for China imports, the centre will be run under a
public private partnership arrangement with the government of China
represented by Yiwu Pan-Africa International Investment Corporation and
that of Tanzania by the Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA).
Speaking at a meeting between the Tanzania Private Sector
Foundation (TPSF) and the Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) on
Saturday, Amos Mchapakazi, who is a trader based at the Kariakoo
business centre said the agreement between Tanzania and China violates
the former country’s investment policy and laws that give priority to
locals.
He said they are protesting against the government’s decision to
sign the contract with China to allow Chinese small traders to invest in
merchandise business because such a situation would deny them of their
basic rights as the citizens of this country.
He said that this project would provide opportunities to foreigners
to carry out small businesses which Tanzanians can also do like what is
now happening in Kariakoo area.
The inner-city Kariakoo, he said, has became Chinatown with an
increasingly large number of Chinese small traders involved in
merchandise business as the locals are gradually being pushed out.
Mchapakazi said that the increase in the number of shopkeepers and
petty traders of Chinese origin at several business points in Dar es
Salaam is adversely affecting the locals’ undertaking.
“Local traders are concerned that many of the Chinese traders
entered the country under the guise of mainstream investment, but have
ended up doing petty trade instead - in direct competition with local
traders,” he observed.
According to him, most Chinese traders were found selling shoes,
sandals and cheap clothes which local traders claim are in fact produced
locally from backyard factories, as a result, locals fails to expand
the market and generate income.
Chairman of Tanzania Business Council, Johnson Minja reminded the
government to give priority to locals in offering business opportunities
instead of considering foreigners.
Some Asian countries, for instance, their investment policies and
regulations doesn’t allow any person from outside the country to invest
even in selling food, barber shops and other small businesses.
“Why do we allow foreigners to take our economy, while we know that
there are many countries that do not allow foreigners to open even a
small pub in their towns or cities,” he queried.
He said Tanzania will be developed from the hands of the hard
working people taking into consideration the business community which is
now competing with the Chinese, Nigerians and Kenyans.
Responding to comments from the traders, TPSF chairperson Dr
Reginald Mengi said that nobody from outside the country can come in and
invest for the benefit of the local people.The national economic vision
and Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) manifesto had publicly declared that
Tanzanians will be given more priority and not foreigners who largely
come to invest for their benefits and their countries’.
“If these two policies are followed, business opportunities and
projects would be offered to companies owned by natives. This as a
result would help in increasing government revenue through the
collection of taxes,” he said. He said the time has come for Tanzanians
to believe that they can do like what other countries do and they should
recognise that they only have Tanzania as their home and not elsewhere.
He said investing in the country’s natural resources does not
necessarily need money, but the government should grant licences to
local people so they can enter into venture capital with foreign
investors and the projects established would benefit the country
significantly.
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