Dar, Tokyo sign lucrative power deal
Tanzania and Japan's Sumitomo Corporation have sealed a 675bn/- deal that will see the latter constructing a 240 Megawatts power generating plant at Kinyerezi in Dar es Salaam. Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Servacius Likwelele and Senior Officer of the SUMITOMO Corporation of Japan exchange agreement documents whereby 240 megawatts of electricity will be provided at Kinyerezi in Dar es Salaam. The signing ceremony held at the organization's Headquarters in Tokyo Japan yesterday. Looking on is President Jakaya Kikwete (left) and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation, Kuniharu Nakamura. (Photo by Freddy Maro). A statement released in Dar es Salaam by the Directorate of Presidential Communications said the project would be undertaken under the Public Private Partnership (PPP). The signing ceremony was held yesterday in Tokyo and was witnessed by President Jakaya Kikwete who is currently visiting the Far East country. The Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Dr Servacius Likwelile signed on behalf of the Tanzanian government, while the Sumitomo Chief Executive Officer Msayuki Hyodo did the same for the Japanese company. President Kikwete hailed the Japenese Company for showing its trust to invest in Tanzania's economy and helping save lives in Africa by investing in Arusha based A-Z factory, which produces mosquito nets, with 30 million of them having been distributed all over the country to date. Mr KiKwete also witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between Sumitomo Corporation and a local company, Quality Garage Limited, whose chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Yusuf Manji put pen to paper for his company, while Mr Takachiyo Tanaka signed for the Japanese company. Meanwhile, Masato Masato reports from Yokohama that Yokohama-based Inter-Continental Hotel, the venue of the fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V), is as busy as a beehive as delegates from over 40 African nations and international organisations register for the meeting that starts this morning. President Jakaya Kikwete arrived here on Wednesday evening, leading a high-powered Tanzanian delegation to the Japanese government co-hosted three-day conference. Tokyo is using the five-yearly event to cement its relationship with the resource endowed African continent. Reports here have it that the Japanese government is likely to pledge billions of US dollars in aid to Africa for the next five years while corporate investments, Japan's public and private sectors look set to invest about 30 billion US dollars into Africa by 2018. Despite relatively long-standing connections, Japan's weight on Africa is gradually waning away in favour of China, which has acquired five times the trading volume and eight times the direct investment, thanks to its aggressiveness. At the forum, Japanese officials will stress the need for the world's third largest economy to boost trade and investment with Africa and transform their relationship from the traditional aid to business-led partnership. Japan is striving to fortify relations with Africa and plead for African countries' support to its bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Tokyo is convinced that support from African countries, which account for a quarter of the UN membership, is inevitable to succeed in its bid. President Kikwete, briefing the Tanzanian delegation here on Wednesday, declared Dar's support to Tokyo's bid to the prestigious and powerful seat. While Japan uses the conference as an opportunity to maintain its diplomatic
clout with Africa, Tanzania is positioning itself strategically to attract Japanese investors to Dar es Salaam. "We have to be very strategic in taping the optimal benefits out of this conference," President Kikwete said during the briefing, ordering that potential investors be identified for one-to-one discussions. According to Tanzanian Ambassador to Japan, Salome Sijaona, the relation between Tanzania and Japan has remained good and always growing, with Japanese investors developing keen interest on Tanzania. "Japanese, after long years of confining themselves within their country, are now going out…we are getting a lot of inquiries from Japanese companies about the investment opportunities in Tanzania," said Ms Sijaona. Africa and Tanzania in particular, remains a potential business partner with Japan – offering markets for Japanese products and supplying raw materials to Tokyo's manufacturers. African countries, most of which sit on huge reserves of minerals and oil as well as other natural resources, are also emerging as last frontier for financial investors. Source Tanzania Daily News