Dr. Adelhelm Meru, Director General of the Tanzania Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) announced yesterday during an exclusive interview with TanzaniaInvest.com that the Authority started receiving interest from parties for the development of 4 new Export Processing Zones.
The 4 projects for which planned is already completed are:
1) Bagamoyo Export Processing Zone and commercial Industrial Township as an alternative to the currently congested Dar es Salaam port.
2) Mtwara Freeport Zone to operate as a supply base to the undergoing oil and gas exploration and extraction projects.
3) Kigoma Commercial Hub to capture border trade between Tanzania and neighboring countries, namely Congo, Burundi and Zambia
4) Tanzania China Logistic Center in Dar es Salaam to act as a trade hub between Tanzania and China by which the first will provide the land and the latter will construct the hub. Phase 1 will see wholesale trading while phase 2 will see manufacturing capacity being developed onsite.
Dr. Meru stressed that international investors have already showed interest, including multinational corporations like Schlumberger and Halliburton for the Mtwara Freeport Zone.
Tanzania Export Processing Zone scheme was established in 2002 following the enactment of the Export Processing Zones Act, 2002.
The scheme provides for the establishment of export oriented investments within the designated zones with the views of creating international competitiveness for export led economic growth.
The Special Economic Zones scheme was established in 2006 within the framework of Tanzania Mini-Tiger plan 2020, to promote export earnings and employment creation as well as attracting Foreign and Domestic Direct Investments.
Since 2006 when EPZA was established the Authority has welcomed 63 factories with a total capital of USD 770 million which exported USD 500 Million to date.
Direct employment reached about 17,000 while indirect employment 65,000.
