Tanzania has secured a $100 million (about Sh220 billion on the prevailing exchange rate) worth of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) from an American investor, the government’s investment agency announced yesterday.
In its statement, availed to the media yesterday, Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) said the $100 million has won the investor, the Friedkins Family Conservation Fund (FCF), a strategic status in Tanzania.
TIC believes that once the investment comes, it will also come with some new employment, wildlife conservation, tourism development, rural community development, infrastructure development and innovation, among others.
“Importantly, where there is a scarcity of wildlife, the investment will seek to introduce photographic and cultural tourism as means of luring resources to these areas,” the statement reads.
FCF will work closely with the Wildlife Division of Tanzania, in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism on anti-poaching initiatives and will continue to sponsor and manage a Geographic Information System (GIS) for mapping and research to compliment anti-poaching efforts.
The TIC executive director Mrs Juliet Kairuki, believes the investment will contribute immensely to tourism and conservation in the country.
“The positive demonstration by this investor is welcomed by the government which considers private investments – both foreign and local – as the engine of growth for the country,” Mrs Kairuki said in the statement.
Tanzania is endowed with numerous world-class tourists’ attractions – including 15 National Parks and 33 game reserves. It is home to the tallest mountain in Africa, the legendary Mt. Kilimanjaro; the cradle of mankind, the Olduvai Gorge and the Zanzibar Stone Town amongst the many.
Apart from its 17 per cent contribution to the total market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within the country in a year (gross domestic product – GDP), tourism is also Tanzania’s number one foreign exchange earner. Tanzania earned some $2.2 billion worth of foreign exchange from tourism alone during the year ending July 2015, according to Bank of Tanzania figures.
An investor is awarded a strategic status after a thorough analysis of the amount of capital to be invested, the contribution of the project in terms of creating employment opportunities, new and innovative technology to be introduced by the prospective investors as well as the extent to which the Project brings capacity to manufacture products for export and the earning of foreign exchange.
Between 2005 and 2015 TIC has registered 1,856 tourism projects worth a total of $6.913 billion which are expected to generate a total of 97,000 jobs.
