By Ludger Kasumuni

Dar es Salaam — Telecommunications companies have only three days to complete the process of listing their shares on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE).

Works, Transport and Communications minister Makame Mbarawa yesterday ordered the telecom companies that are yet to complete the process of listing shares at DSE to do so within three days.

According Prof Mbarawa’s statement, telecommunications companies which were licenced before July 1 this year should abide by the law to list their 25 per cent of shares at DSE before the end of this month.

Under the 2016 Electronic and Postal Communications Act (Epca), December 31 is the deadline for the firms’ listing.

An amendment to a new finance bill requires the eight operators to float 25 per cent of their shares on the bourse.

So far only Vodacom Tanzania and Tigo have prepared their prospectuses for listing at DSE.

Airtel, Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL), Zantel, Benson and Sasatel are yet to do so.

Efforts to get comments from Airtel, TTCL and Zantel officials failed yesterday. Companies licensed after July 1 this year have two years to prepare themselves for listing.

Finance and Planning minister Philip Mpango told the National Assembly that the companies’ listing on the bourse would “help the government trace the exact revenue generated by the firms as well as enable Tanzanians to hold shares”. He denied that the bill was a policy reversal, saying it merely enforced the Epoca of 2010, which stipulated that foreign telecoms companies to list locally.

Vodacom is the market leader though it has seen its subscription market share dropping from 45 per cent in December 2007, 41 per cent in December 2008, 39 per cent in December 2009 before dropping further to 32 per cent in December 2015, according to Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority figures.

By Ronald Musoke

Following the withdraw of the Russian-led consortium RT Global Resources, from the oil refinery construction in July, the government is looking for a new investor to partner in the project by mid-2017

This year marked a decade since the government announced the discovery of commercially viable oil and gas resources along Uganda’s western frontier.

But even with the 6.5 billion barrels of crude oil confirmed so far of which about 1.7 billion barrels is ready for production, Ugandans are still waiting for the day they will earn petroleum dollars– thanks to a combination of factors.

For starters, depressed international oil prices over the last two years have made investors hold back their money meant for venturing into new oil and gas frontiers like Uganda, choosing to wait for the industry to recover.That stance has had ramifications for Uganda’s nascent oil sector.

But the government appears to have taken full advantage of the uncertainty in the industry by going ahead to make laws, policies and regulations as well as put in place institutions that could ensure thel industry is well governed once production starts.That has been the case over the last two years.

Crude oil pipeline route

In April, the government finally chose the Indian Ocean port of Tanga in Tanzania as its preferred end point for its $4b crude oil pipeline. That decision came following two years of protracted negotiations involving officials from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and the oil companies.

A route survey has been ongoing and is expected to be completed by the end of this year while the contract for the Front End Engineering Design for the pipeline has also been awarded and is expected to be ready by the end of 2017. The government also says negotiations of an intergovernmental agreement between Tanzania and Uganda are progressing well.

“We are in fast-track mode to build the crude oil pipeline from Hoima to Tanga Port in Tanzania,” Irene Muloni, the Minister of Energy, recently told the government-controlled newspaper, The New Vision.

TheFrench oil company, Total E&P Uganda B.V which had never been shy of their preference for the southern route, has already expressed interest to finance the construction of the pipeline.Ugandan officials had always insisted that they would go for the route that ensures the country’s oil is sold onto the international market using the least cost means.

This year, the government went ahead and constituted the three important oil institutions–the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU), the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) and the Directorate of Petroleum in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.

In June, the Uganda National Oil Company’s (UNOC) Board of Directors appointed Josephine Wapakhabulo as the first chief executive officer. She is a 40-year old PhD graduate of Information Science.Wapakhabulo is expected to lead the setup of UNOC and manage its transition into a world class oil and gas company to prepare for oil production.

Established under the Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) Act, 2013, UNOC is mandated to ensure an adequate, reliable, and affordable supply of quality petroleum products in the country.

But in future, UNOC will be expected to participate in oil production on behalf of the state. The government, according to the existing production-sharing agreements with the oil exploration companies, can participate with between 15-20% in production.

In August, Ernest Rubondo was appointed the executive director of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU). Rubondo who until recently was the director of the Petroleum Exploration and Production Department in the Ministry of Energy has been heavily involved in the formulation of the country’s legal and regulatory framework including the 2008 National Oil and Gas Policy and the recently enacted petroleum industry legislations. He took on his new assignment at the beginning of September, 2016.

Eight production licences

In late August, the government issued eight production licences to Tullow Oil and Total E & P Uganda B.V in a move that was intended to revitalize the sector.

The government issued five production licences to Tullow Uganda Operations Pty Ltd, the operator of Exploration Area 2 and three to Total E&P Uganda B.V, the operator of EA1.

With the issuance of the licences came the government’s bold statement that they now expect oil production to start around 2020.

Still in August, there was news that the government would issue four oil exploration licences to four new companies; three of which are Nigeria-based.But in a brief presented to Parliament on Dec. 8, Peter Lokeris, the State minister for mineral development said the licensing round has progressed to the stage of negotiation of production sharing agreements (PSAs) with three of the companies.

These include; Armour Energy Limited for the Kanywataba Block, Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited for Turaco Shallow and Deep Plays and Oranto Petroleum International Limited for the Ngassa Shallow and Deep Plays.

Lokeris said upon conclusion of negotiations this year, the government expects to award a total of five new exploration licences following Cabinet approval. Licensing of more acreage in the country is aimed at expanding the country’s hydrocarbon resource base; enhance sustainability of oil and production and the revenue from oil and gas activities.

Refinery still in doubt

But while the issuance of the production licencles and exploration licences lifted spirits in the sector high, the withdrawal of the Russian-led consortium RT Global Resources, from the oil refinery construction negotiations in July was a major setback in Uganda’s mission to become an oil producing nation in four year’s time.

In February, 2015, RT Global Resources, a subsidiary of Rostec, a Russian state corporation had been chosen over South Korean firm, SK Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd by the government to serve as the lead investor for the refinery but pulled out 16 months later after failing to agree with the government on several negotiation claulses.

As a result, the government has restructured the oil refinery project and is now in a new search for a lead investor.

“Initially we had a public-private partnership but with Rostec (RT Global Resources] leaving, we are looking at restructuring the project to bring it to a public-led instead of private sector-led investment,” Dozith Abeinomugsha, the Assistant Commissioner in the energy ministry told an annual general meeting of the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum (UCMP) in September.

The government is now expected to take the majority of the shares unlike the earlier arrangement where the private developer would have taken the lion’s share.

In the previous arrangement, the refinery was to be constructed on a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) with a private led investor owning 60% stake while the remaining 40% would be owned by the government including the EAC partner states. It remains unclear how the government intends to fund the $4b refinery expected to produce 60,000 barrels-per-day.

Interestingly, the government insists on having the oil refinery in place before commercial production of oil can start in earnest.

Experts say even though arrangements for crude export pipeline have been agreed upon, the fact that the government insists on holding out for a refinery as a prerequisite for any commercialization remains a stumbling block.

However, Eng. Irene Muloni, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development told The New Vision in November that the government is working closely with its partners to ensure oil flows by 2020. She said preparations are ongoing about the refinery. Muloni said the Russian firm set new conditions, which were not favourable, so negotiations with them ended.

Lokeris told Parliament on Dec.8 that close to 25 companies/firms have since expressed interest in the project. The selection process is to progress with a view of selecting the most suitable partner for the project by mid-2017.

Kabagambe-Kaliisa exits energy ministry

On the flipside, in November, President Museveni reshuffled his Permanent Secretaries of key ministries and after 40 years of service in the energy and mineral sector, Fred Kabagambe Kaliisa, 62, left office and was replaced by a more youthful Stephen Robert Isabalija.

Kabagambe-Kaliisa had moved up the ranks initially starting out as a fresh graduate in 1976 before becoming a Commissioner of Petroleum Exploration and Production Department in 1991, to the Director of Energy and Mineral Development in 1994 and finally to the position of Permanent Secretary in 1997.

Kabagambe-Kaliisa who always talked about the local oil industry with passion and nostalgia spent close to 30 years overseeing the development of the sector.

“My happiest moment will be when I see our country getting and utilizing the first spoils from our oil,” Kabagambe said in 2011.

Pretoria — Motorists will have to dig deeper into their pockets as all grades of petrol are due to increase next Wednesday.

In a statement on Thursday, the Department of Energy announced that a litre of petrol 93 ULP and LRP will rise by 50 cents a litre, while a litre of 95 ULP and LRP will increase by 48 cents.

In December, a litre of 95 ULP cost R12.85 in Gauteng. Motorists in Gauteng will now have to cough up R13.33 for a litre of 95 ULP.

Meanwhile, a litre of Diesel (0.05% Sulphur) and will increase by 39 cents, while Diesel (0.005% Sulphur) will increase by 37 cents.

The Wholesale price of Illuminating Paraffin will rise by 43 cents and the price of SMNRP of Illuminating Paraffin will increase by 58 cents.

The Maximum Retail Price of LPGas will see a 106.00c/kg increase.

The department said the Rand/US Dollar exchange rate contributed to the increase of the petrol price.

“The Rand strengthened very slightly against the US Dollar from R13.91 to R13.87, on average, during the period under review when compared to the previous one.”

In addition, the key factor that contributed to the increase in the prices of crude oil was the fact that OPEC members agreed to cut production by 1.2 million barrels per from 1 January 2017 during their meeting that was held in Vienna, Austria, on 30 November 2016.

“Furthermore, Russia and other Non-OPEC producers also agreed to cut production by 600 000 barrels per day,” said the department.

By Bernard Lugongo

Tailoring workshops under the Tanzania Prisons Force will undergo a major revitalisation in the next financial year to enable them produce enough uniforms for warders and officers, hence geting rid of private dealers.

In the same vein, the department will procure clothing materials for making uniforms directly from manufacturers instead of purchasing them from the middlemen, according to the Home Affairs Permanent Secretary (PS), Major-General (Retired) Projest Rwegasira.

The new arrangement comes in the wake of an order by President John Magufuli who wanted to see immediate halt to the sale of military uniforms by civilians.

When he made impromptu visit to Ukonga Prison in Dar es Salaam recently, the president condemned the involvement of civilians in making and conducting trade in uniforms, directing all people dealing in military attire to stop it and immediately surrender their consignments to respective forces.

Dr Magufuli issued the order after receiving complaints from prison wardens over the procurement of their uniforms from private dealers, contrary to rules and principles guiding defence and security forces. The president further directed relevant authorities to take to task all those involved in the shoddy deals relating to uniform supply to prison officers.

“In the future, we want to deal directly with the manufacturers of the cloth for making uniforms I have already given a directive on this,” Maj.Gen. Rwegasira told the ‘Daily News’ during an interview at the ministry’s head office in Dar es Salaam.

He admitted that private dealers were involved in the procurement of the uniforms because the current capacity of the industries could not fulfill the demands of the attire for prisons personnel.The prisons have two big sewing industries, one located at Ukonga in Dar es Salaam and the other at Butimba in Mwanza Region.

There are also two smaller factories in Mbeya and Arusha. The industry in Mbeya has 200 sewing machines while Mwanza has also 200, Dar es Salaam – 500 and Arusha – 100.

The PS said the industries were capable of producing enough uniforms, only that they lacked enough materials. “We are now going to increase equipment and manpower to these industries, including fully utilising the prisoners as workers in these factories,” he added.

New York —Caterpillar, a U.S. manufacturing giant which makes construction and mining equipment, engines and industrial turbines and provides related services, is planning to invest more than $1 billion in Africa over the next five years. The expansion was announced by CEO Doug Oberhelman on September 21 during the U.S. Africa Business Summit in New York. The company, which ranks 59^th on the most recent Fortune 500 listing, has been involved in Africa for 90 years. During an interview, Caterpillar’s regional manager for Africa and the Middle East, David Picard, described the opportunities and priorities the company is pursuing across the continent.

What is behind the decision to boost investment by Caterpillar and its dealers?

We have a long history on the continent and a vast geographic footprint. Our first dealer outside of United States was in Tunisia in 1926, followed shortly thereafter by Barloworld in South Africa. Today, we are present in all countries of Africa through our dealers except for Sudan and Somalia. Customers get a true Caterpillar experience wherever they are in Africa.

We think Africa is rising in spite of the commodity challenges that the continent is facing currently. There tremendous potential for growth. It has the fastest growing middle class worldwide, and the population is expected to double by 2050. So Caterpillar with our dealers and with the Cat Foundation made this commitment. It’s going to be for service facilities, for logistics facilities and for education and skills development. This is really helping to alleviate poverty.

Most companies face difficulties locating the skilled labor they need. How Caterpillar approach skills enhancement?

We have state-of-the-art training for our dealer personnel. Take Barloworld (in South Africa) for example. They have built a facility that trains 500 technicians every year from foundational up to advanced technician capability – repairing engines, hydraulics, transmissions.

More broadly, Caterpillar has created online e-learning for the foundational piece of that. And what we’ve done is we packaged it into an African curriculum that is made up of 18 courses that any individual in Africa can follow free of charge, all they need is access to a computer and the internet. And upon completion of that curriculum, they will be certified by Caterpillar and with the opportunity to have their name shared with — their information shared with our local dealer.

What we’re trying to do is help develop foundational skills on the one hand, but also help people find employment on the other. This training is valid for Caterpillar, but it really can be used in a whole range of industries, from agriculture to construction to mining as it teaches people about engine repair, hydraulics and electronics. Safety as a key part of the curriculum.

So the training is portable.

Yes. We’d love them to work for our dealers. But we’d also love them to work for our customers. Our customers have a vast need for technical support as well. We want people working. We’ve piloted this in three countries up till now: Nigeria – in English; DRC (Congo) – French and Mozambique in Portuguese. We wanted to test the three main languages in sub-Saharan Africa.

What role is the Caterpillar Foundation playing in the company’s expanded engagement in Africa?

Cat Foundation has invested $50 million since 2010 in Africa and has committed another $15 million between now and 2020. The focus is about helping women, it’s about water, and it’s about alleviating poverty. The Foundation has been working in conjunction with the U.S. government to help women become entrepreneurs. We see that women tend to help economies as they enter the workforce. We’ve also have invested in a trade school in Johannesburg called St. Anthony’s – over a million dollars since that program started. This is for young people, impoverished young people that want to learn. We’re helping to provide the tools particularly in the stem space.

What are the primary sectors where Caterpillar is currently engaged and where the expanded engagement is focused?

Construction and agriculture were certainly at the roots of Caterpillar as a company. We’ve also been very active in mining and power, energy and transportation. We have traditional power systems as well as renewable power systems and microgrids. We have marine engines for the shipping industry. We also have locomotives, diesel, electric locomotives that are operating across Africa today.

Where are you developing microgrids?

We’re launching this concept right now with the government of Madagascar and also with the telecoms in Ethiopia in order to roll this out on a broad scale. We’ve also had our dealers install the capability at their main branches to become more efficient, first of all, but also to learn about the technology themselves so that they can then take it to market.

Are these solar powered?

They are photovoltaic with storage and, where necessary, backup diesel – so it can be a hybrid with 24-hour power. We think it has tremendous potential to help electrify the rural countryside in Africa.

How would you sum up the company’s overall assessment of opportunities for growth in Africa?

We’re very bullish on Africa. We’ve seen the commodities prices crash. It’s hurt a lot of countries. But there’s still a lot of boisterous growth in many countries. Countries like Ethiopia in Cote d’Ivoire and others are going very rapidly. We are part of it, and we want to continue to be a part of that growth. As much as anything, growth is being limited by the lack of skilled labor, and that’s why we’ve launched these [training] programs. Sectors that we’re active in are all ones that we think are going to be seeing strong growth and are going to help the continent succeed.

Many of our dealers have component rebuild centers on the ground that are really like mini factories. They use standard work processes and highly skilled labor that remanufacture components and extend the lives of Caterpillar products, providing best value for our customers. So those are some of the things that we’re doing to help support the growth.

What are other obstacles you face doing business in Africa? Is corruption an issue?

In terms of corruption, Caterpillar has a very robust training curriculum for all of our employees and for our dealers as well that expects absolute compliance with our values. In addition to that, I would say that I’ve seen a change amongst African leaders over the years. It’s a group that very often have been educated in Europe or in United States who are being versed in values and business ethics that we’ve been used to in the U.S. and in Europe. And so I definitely see a change and a transformation particularly amongst the young people in Africa.

Do you face regulatory challenges?

Africa is 54 different countries and that poses a logistics challenge for all of us. There’s no doubt. There has been some progress made – in COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa), for instance, in terms of the flow of goods and services and we support that. We’d like to see more common standards – maybe not across the continent but at least through the various regional trade hubs.

Do you see any increase in U.S. government support for business and is that making a difference to Caterpillar?

Yeah, we do. President Obama’s Power Africa initiative and Africa Trade initiative have been very successful. Also USAID. As I mentioned, Cat Foundation is partnering with the State Department on initiatives like the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program. So we definitely see increasing interest from the U.S. Government in supporting growth of U.S. companies in Africa.

By Tami Hultman

Cape Town —Recently released from hospital, retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa celebrated his 85^thebirthday in October. Though clearly frail, he surprised and delighted friends and family gathered from around the world by presiding at a service at St. Georges Cathedral in Cape Town and attending an annual lecture in his honor. AllAfrica will mark the birthday year by a focus on one of the causes that the Archbishop has championed – a campaign to provide a simple writing surface for schoolchildren across Africa who have no desks.

Try this. Take a piece of paper and a pencil and attempt to write on it without using a desk or table.

You may or may not have a bench for sitting, but if you do, it will be shared and crowded with other people. If you’re lucky and agile, you’ll be able to crouch on the floor and use that as a surface, though it may have unevenness and imperfections that show in your script. But what if you are outside and have only the ground?

That is the dilemma of 95 million African children who desperately want to learn – and of their parents who often work long, hard days to earn money for school fees to secure their children the right to a place in school.

The crisis seems far away when sitting in AllAfrica’s high-tech headquarters in Cape Town. Editors work at computers connected to fibre Internet. An online ‘virtual newsroom – plus large screens and what we call ‘videoconferencing for the masses’ from Silicon Valley’sPluot – connect this office with colleagues in Dakar, Nairobi, Monrovia and elsewhere.

But Thandeka Tutu-Gxashe, the eldest daughter of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu visited the Cape Town office to argue that the crisis is nearer than it seems.

“South Africa has 12 million children in school,” Tutu-Gxashe says. “Three million of those go to school without desks. And as bad as that sounds for South Africa, in the rest of Africa it’s worse. In Mozambique, they have nine million children who go to school, and out of those, seven million go to school without desks. So you can see that it’s a huge problem.”

It’s a cause that has captured Tutu-Gxashe’s heart. She has become a spokesperson and advocate for the Tutudesk Campaign, for which her father is patron. Building on a project to provide simple, portable lap desks for students, the campaign aims to deliver at least “20 million desks to 20 million children by the year 2020”.

It’s not that Tutu-Gxashe’s own desk is not full already. With a master’s degree in public health from Emory University in Atlanta, where she also attended medical school, she became a research supervisor on multi-center clinical trials funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Returning to South Africa, she continued to conduct and direct research and provide health interventions, much of it related to HIV-Aids. But she knows that health care access across Africa cannot grow without educating the next generation.

So far, over a million and a half desks have been distributed to students in dozens of countries. An independent study of their impact in South Africa found a 67 per cent increase in homework submitted. Eighty per cent of teachers said they could interact better with students. A similar number said they could more easily read their pupils’ handwriting.

But ask successful people who had to attend school without a hard surface for writing, and they’ll tell you the benefits exceed quantifiable results. Unicef, the UN Children’s Fund, says a simple desk makes all the difference for a child struggling to learn while sitting on a floor or the ground.

A child without the opportunity to learn to write, says Tutu-Gxashe, “will leave school semi-literate, which has enormous impact on the child’s further education, on future employment, on families and communities, on countries, and, as a result, on our continent.”

The Tutudesk Campaign lists a dozen sub-Saharan African countries where half or more of students have no writing surfaces, including conflict or post-conflict countries such as Angola, Liberia and Somalia. In Malawi, according to Unicef, 70 per cent of children lack desks. Those are the countries the campaign targets.

Also on the list, somewhat surprisingly, is Kenya, a technology powerhouse, where economic growth has averaged nearly five and a half per cent for more than a decade.

Kenya has been a global pioneer in mobile money since 2007, and more than 90 per cent of adults – including those in rural areas with no bank accounts, use their cell phones for everything from paying bills and making purchases to ‘texting’ money to family members.

Kenya is also the home of crowd-sourcing information sharing tool Ushahidi, which has been used worldwide for diverse needs – to reunite families after the Haiti earthquake, to monitor elections in fragile countries, and to warn New York state residents to avoid flooded roads and bridges. So when Kenyan politicians promised to provide a digital device to every pupil entering primary school in 2014, it was not seen as fantasy.

Now, though, with that pledge unfulfilled, there are calls to abandon the laptop/tablet plan in favor of giving students desks. As Kwame Owino, CEO of the Institute of Economic Affairs in Nairobi, wrote in a columnfor the Nation newspaper, “Government data shows that the number of desks available in primary schools is far short of the number of learners…These may not be high tech gadgets.., but their arrival in schools would find very active use and help many children who have to write on the floor with curved backs throughout the day.”

The genius of the Tutudesk is that it is made of a lightweight material, shaped to rest on a small lap, that can be printed with information on both sides – though Tutu-Gxashe says some teachers and schools request a blank side so that students aren’t distracted during lessons. A cut out creates a carrying handle.

Students love to take them home, when allowed, but experience shows that they must be taught to bring them back for the next days’ work. Advice to teachers is to give children time to develop the habit of carrying them back and forth daily, over what may be long distances.

Tutudesks are manufactured in South Africa from recycled high-impact polystyrene. Schools in the province of Gauteng – where the city of Johannesburg and the administrative capital, Pretoria, are located – were recruited into an environmental campaign to collect items such as yogurt containers and plastic eating utensils for use in producing the lap desks. The desks are designed to last each student a minimum of five years and are intended to be recycled at the end of their useful lives as writing surfaces.

Over 40 diverse organizations, business and philanthropies from around the world have sponsored the desk campaign.

“In answer to a call to action by the Archbishop,” says a South African Muslim emergency response organization, “Islamic Relief South Africaand Islamic Relief USA joined forces with the TutuDesk Campaign and provided 7618 TutuDesks to learners in the Eastern Cape [province of South Africa], focusing specifically on schools that have less than 50% of the desks they need.”

“We simply cannot afford more time without this simple, affordable provision,” Archbishop Tutu insists.

But while the desks themselves may look simple and be more economical than most educational interventions – a good investment, therefore – paying for them and distributing them in 24 of the world’s poorest countries is neither simple nor cheap. The neediest schools are often in rural areas, reachable only by dirt roads in poor condition. The Tutudesk Campaign solicits funds from large organizations to support the outreach infrastructure – but it depends on small groups and individuals to buy many of the desks it provides.

Each desk costs US$15, but the manufacturing price drops appreciably with volume purchases. The organization encourages friends and families to make group donations. But Tutu-Gxashe reminds us that each dollar contributed makes a difference to a real person – a child with dreams.

“It’s really about the children,” she says. Alongside the substantial educational benefits, there is the intangible but very real sense of dignity that having their own desk for writing gives a child. “Often we hand out desks in communities where children have never had anything new or that was particularly theirs,” she says. “They love the desks!”

Over 1trn/- has been allocated for implementation of the Rural Energy Agency (REA)’s phase III projects, which are expected to electrify all villages in the country.

According to Energy and Minerals Minister, Professor Sospeter Muhongo, 543.3bn/- out of the 1trn/- budget, will be sourced internally with the remaining amount coming from donors.

Professor Muhongo, speaking to Mara residents during his tour of the region to inspect execution of REA phase II projects which have achieved 94 per cent success, noted that the government has already embarked on the five-year REA Phase III, which was launched on August 1,2016.

During the tour, the minister was told that many villages were yet to get electricity connection, with only those along the main roads and business centres getting priority in the previous phases. “The fifth-phase government has allocated the substantial amount, which had never happened before ..

I can assure you that within 10 years all villages will be connected, just be patient,” the minister stressed. He added, “The second phase ended in June, this year. It was implemented in two years and it cost 880bn/-, we wanted it (Phase II) to succeed by 98 per cent but we dropped to 94 per cent due to various reasons.

” The minister said the government was looking for contractors who will carry out the projects, which he described as historic and the largest to implement in the country.

Speaking about the REA phase III project, Tanesco Lake Zone Manager,Engineer Amos Maganga, said that apart from electrifying all villages, the project will also work on shortfalls identified during the implementation of REA Phase II.

Eng Maganga said in REA II, some villages were left out simply because there was no wider scope plan, adding that the shortage of equipment also impeded the project execution. As phase III is about to kick off, Professor Muhongo advised Tanzanians whose villages were left out to remain patient, assuring them that all villages will get connected to power.

The Harare City Council is now owed more than $550 million in unpaid rates and bills by residents, Government departments and businesses, it has been learnt.

The local authority, however, hopes that the situation will improve as residents are now embracing the various bill payment platforms including the availability of cash through bond notes. Acting finance director, Mr Tendai Kwenda, attributed the situation to the prevailing economic challenges, which were affecting most residents.

According to the recent minutes of the Finance and Development Committee, Mr Kwenda reported on the various sector accounts and the position on council debtors and creditors variances.

“Aggregated income and expenditure summary for January to October, 2016 indicated a surplus of $70,6 million. Debtors were reported at $551,2 million while creditors stood at $425,4 million. A total of $23,9 was owed to CABS and BanABC as at August 31, 2016.

“A total of $144,4 million was owed to Exim Bank of China of which $72,2 million had been committed and repayment would commence in 2017 and short, medium and long term amounting to $96,1 million owed by council,” reads the minutes.

During discussion the committee was advised that the situation was promising to improve as most residents and stakeholders were embracing the various bill payment platforms that were being introduced.

Revenue inflows, the committee was told, were now improving and assessments would be made next year. The committee also discussed contracting out some functions of the City Valuations and Estate Management section.

Mr Kwenda told councillors that the recommendation was a result of the section’s failure to cope with leases management tasks especially revenue collection as it was not equipped with the lease administration software.

He said the section had a severely depleted mobility and human capital resources as well as lack of legal structure to attend to litigation matters timeously.

“In view of the above shortcomings, the administration then felt it was in the best interest of council to contract out the above functions. During discussion acting town clerk (Mrs Josephine Ncube) advised the committee that the city was owed almost $30 million in leases therefore it was appropriate to lease out this function to established estates companies so as to recover the lease rental arrears as well as ensure timeous payment of all lease rentals.”

“She further advised that the estate companies would be engaged through tender and that assessment reports would be submitted to the committee,” reads the minutes.

Council approved the contracting out of some functions of the City Valuation and Estates Management in respect of all leases in the Central Business District.

By Adebiyi Adedapo

The House of Representatives has declared that it would not consider the request by President Muhammadu Buhari seeking its approval for an external loan of $29.96 billion (N9 trillion) until necessary details including the borrowing plan and sources of the loan are provided.

This is just as the House promised to kick-start the new legislative year with the 2017 appropriation bill, so as to avoid delay in the passage and eventual implementation of the budget.

The green chamber, however, promised to ensure a clean and transparent process in passing the budget.

Chairman of the House committee on media and publicity, Namdas Abdulrazak, in an interview with LEADERSHIP, noted that the House would consider the budget proposal upon resumption of plenary by January 10, 2017, but said his colleagues may not consider the loan request until the details, some of which the Senate had already requested are provided by the Presidency.

“The budget is the most important bill in the house and nobody can joke with it. We will consider the appropriation bill as soon as we resume in the new year, the $29.96 billion loan request is not dead in the House, we are still going to debate it,” he said.

Recall that the Senate had on November 1, rejected President Buhari’s external borrowing request, citing lack of documents supporting the request as referenced in the letter by the president.

When pointedly asked why the House had not considered the president’s request, Namdas said since the loan request had suffered a setback at the upper legislative chamber, it would be fruitless to consider it at the lower chamber until the details required by the Senate are provided.

“You know that it suffered a setback in the Senate, and it cannot pass without concurrence of the two legislative assemblies, so anything we are doing will be an exercise in futility if the details required by the Senate are not presented. It then means that the details required by the Senate should be made available before the National Assembly will consider the request,” Namdas stated.

He reiterated that the 2017 budget was the most important bill before the National Assembly at the moment, and assured that the House will ensure that it receives immediate attention for quick passage and timely implementation.

“Essentially, the 2017 budget proposal is the most important bill before the National Assembly and the House will treat it with urgency and expedite action on it,” he added.

LEADERSHIP recalls that the president had in separate letters to the Senate and House of Representatives, explained that the $29.96 billion external loan was to promptly implement projects that cut across agriculture, health, education, and water supply.

The president, in the letter, noted that the projects and programmes under the external borrowing plan were selected based on positive technical economic evaluations, as well as the contributions they would make to the socio-economic development of the country, including employment generation, poverty reduction, and protection of the nation’s vulnerable population.

He said some of the funds would be deployed to emergency projects in the North-east, particularly following the outbreak of polio after the de-listing of Nigeria from polio endemic countries.

The World Bank has provided a loan of $125 million for the federal government to procure vaccines and other ancillary facilities to stop the polio outbreak, and also provided $450 million to assist in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the North-east, the president disclosed.

The entire projects for the North-east, according to the president’s letter, are: polio eradication support and routine immunisation ($125 million), community and social development projects ($75 million), Nigeria States and Health Programme Investment Project ($125 million), State Education Programme Investment Project ($100 million), Nigeria Youth Employment and Social Support Project ($100 million), and Fadama III Project ($50 million).

“Given the emergency nature of these facilities and the need to consolidate the peace and return the region to normalcy, and considering the time it would take to get National Assembly’s approval, it has become inevitable to request for the National Assembly leadership’s approval, pending the consideration and approval of the 2016-2018 borrowing plan by the National Assembly to enable us disburse these funds immediately,” Buhari said in the letter.

The Central Bank has dismissed as false reports circulating in some social media outlets that 500/- notes will no longer be used after 31st of December of this year.

The Central Bank Director of Banking, Marcian Kobello, said in a statement yesterday that the 500/-bill would continue to be used next year until it disappears in the circulation.

“Reports that the 500/- notes will no longer be used after 31st of December are false and should be dismissed,” the statement reads in part adding the bank notes would remain as legal tender before it is gradually withdrawn in the circulation.

“The truth is the 500/- bill will continue in circulation alongside the 500/- coin until it disappears.

” The Central Bank introduced the 500/- coins in 2014 to replace the fast wearing 500/- bank notes. According to the Central Bank Governor, Prof Benno Ndulu, the decision followed complaints from people regarding the weakness of the green 500/- bill.

The Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank urged the public not to worry since the transition would save the government a great amount of money used often to replace worn out notes with the new ones.

The government said the decision to introduce the 500/- coins was based on durability of the 500/- note and thus saving costs incurred to print new notes every time the notes wear out.

Banknotes series in Tanzania are in the denominations of 500/-, 1,000/-, 2,000/-, 5,000/- and 10,000/-.