Dar es Salaam, May 22 (Xinhua) – Kitila Alexander Mkunbo, Minister of Planning and Investment of the Tanzanian Presidential Office, stated on May 20 that the China Tanzania Industrial Park, as Tanzania’s first national level industrial park, will greatly promote the country’s industrialization process.
Mkunbo stated that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Tanzania and China. For the past 60 years, China has been an important strategic investor and trading partner of Tanzania, and the China Tanzania Industrial Park will provide Tanzania with broader development space.
Huang Zaisheng, Chairman of Zhongtan Industrial Park and President of Tanzania Chinese Enterprise Investment Association, said in an interview that Zhongtan Industrial Park, as Tanzania’s first national level industrial park, covers an area of 10 square kilometers and is divided into 7 major sections, including agricultural product processing zone, building material processing zone, equipment manufacturing zone, pharmaceutical zone, daily chemical zone, textile and clothing zone, and export processing zone.
Huang Zaisheng introduced that the China Tanzania Industrial Park is one of the flagship projects of the Tanzanian government and an important practice of capacity cooperation between China and Africa. The construction of Zhongtan Industrial Park officially began in May 2022, and the first phase of infrastructure has been fully completed. It has met the conditions for enterprises to enter the park, with 10 contracted enterprises and more than 20 potential enterprises.
Mkunbo stated that after the completion of the park, it will accommodate more than 200 enterprises to settle in, driving direct employment for 100000 local people and indirect employment for 500000 local people, which has a positive effect on promoting Tanzania’s industrialization process and driving national economic development.
The Zhongtan Industrial Park is more than 80 kilometers away from the port city of Dar es Salaam. The industrial park is located in the core of the 1300 square kilometer Kara Industrial New City planned by the government. It connects the central and western inland regions and six inland countries in East Africa through the central railway line and Kara Land Port, and connects to various parts of the world through the Dar es Salaam port.
At present, six landlocked countries in East Africa, including Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Malawi, have set up their own ports and storage yards at the Kara Land Port.