According to a recent report by the East African Business News, a plan to ease Tanzania business operations has been put in place based on the simplification of the country’s Economic Development Zones (EDZ) into four distinct zones.
The new division and development plan was recently announced by the Tanzanian Ministry of Industry, Trade and Marketing and is in line with the country’s Integrated Development Strategy 2025 as well as the Master Plan.
One of the areas that has been identified by this plan is the Tanga Development Corridor (TDC), which includes the regions of Tanga, Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Manyara and Mara.
The TDC area is well-known for its rich mineral assets and is said to have great potential in terms of generating economic growth in the region by effectively stimulating interest and economic potential from places that are beyond the physical borders of the country.
The original design for the TDC was for the area to ultimately serve as a link between the Great Lakes Zone and the Tanga port as well as to provide logistics to the neighboring countries of Uganda and Kenya.
In addition to the TDC, the Central Development Corridor (CDC) has also been identified as an area for development.
The area of the CDC includes the regions of Dar es Salaam, Coast, Mriogoro, Singida, Dodoma, Tabora, Shinyanga, Mwanza and Kagera, locations which have proven to be vital assets to the area as it works towards becoming more integrated within the region as a whole.
The central location of the CDC has also made it possible for the region to serve as a link between the neighboring landlocked countries of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the Congo.
The third area that has been identified for development is the Tanzam Development Corridor, which was designed in order to provide a railway outlet for Zambian copper and is currently served by the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TANZAM) and by the TANZAM highway.
The final area that has been designated for development by this plan is an international passageway for four countries and is known as the Mtwara Development Corridor (MDC), which is the only area of the four that is still without a railway line.
In addition to designating these four areas, the plan has also identified Economic Development Zones (EDZ) at the waterfront of each of these four Economic Development Corridors in order to serve as an export processing platform for the raw and intermediate materials that are produced within the regions
Waterfront zones has been identified in three of the four areas, namely in Bagamoyo, in Mtwara and in Tanga.
At the same time as these water front are being developed, an industrial zone known as air front EDZ will begin to be developed in the fourth area of Arusha.
