The Minister of Investment in the Prime Minister’s Office, Mwanbe, said recently that after the Tanzanian government formed a negotiating team in October, it said that it would soon announce the start of negotiations for the multi-billion-dollar Bagamoyo Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The project is implemented by the Tanzanian government in cooperation with China Merchants International and the Oman National Government Reserve Fund (SGRF). It will become the largest port in East Africa and a key component of China’s 900 billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, an ambitious transnational infrastructure construction plan.

Mr. Gabriel Migire, Permanent Secretary of Transport in Tanzania’s Ministry of Engineering and Transport, stated that the government has set up a team to prepare the country’s position on what interests the country needs in the implementation of the project.

The Tanzanian government signed a framework agreement with China Merchants International (CMHI) and the National Reserve Fund of Oman in 2013 to build a port and special economic zone as part of the effort to transform Tanzania into a trade and logistics center in the region.

Mwanbe stated that the project is in line with Tanzania’s third five-year development plan (2021/2022-2025/2026) and has a good economic prospect. The US$10 billion investment will strengthen Tanzania’s position as a regional trade and supply chain hub. When Mwanbe provided a briefing on the country’s investment sector over the past 60 years, he said: “We have made tremendous efforts and will soon officially announce the start of negotiations with our colleagues with whom we have met before.”

When talking about investment flows in the past six months of President Hassan’s administration, Mr. Mwanbe’s data show that the government’s pro-investment approach is producing positive results. Mwanbe also said that the focus of the project negotiations at this stage is how to use 3000 hectares of land to build a port, logistics park and Lingang New City covering an area of 2,200 hectares. Editor/Xu Shengpeng