Tanga residents are being encouraged to capitalize on the pending benefits to be realized through the Uganda oil pipeline deal. Different businessmen and government officials have urged residents to take advantage so that it is not of more benefit to outsiders.
Mr. Bwoki, a former Regional Chairperson of Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA), said that majority Tanga residents remain unaware of the coming project. People should therefore be mobilised and educated on how to best use the opportunity to mint money.
“There are immense business opportunities but the way I see only people from outside the region or even from the neighbouring countries are most likely to benefit from the project,” he said.
The project should benefit the entire country but Tanga residents, as the project host, are entitled to a larger share of the benefits. Direct employment may prove difficult due to required skills and educational qualification but only aggressiveness is required to tap the project benefits as far as entrepreneurship is concerned, said Mr. Bwoki.
Clearing and forwarding, transport, catering and hospitality are some of the services that will be demanded direly during the project execution. Agriculturists should get ready to produce fruits and food to meet the demand of many people in the areas of the project.
The 1,400km (800 miles) pipeline will connect Uganda’s western region near Hoima, where big oil reserves have been discovered, with Tanzania’s port of Tanga. When completed, it will be East Africa’s first major oil pipeline.
