African’s wealthiest person, Alhaj Aliko Dangote said, on Sunday, that he was content with the leadership style of President Dr. John Pombe Magufuli and vowed to continue working with him and his government.
Welcoming the president and his delegation at Dangote
cement factory in Mtwara, Alhaj Dangote said he was satisfied with every effort
taken by the President and his government to strengthen investment climate in
the country.
“It is a great honor and privileged to our company
to have been given such an opportunity to make such a big investment in
Tanzania which is worth US $650m” Alhaj Dangote told the President.
He added that his company was ready to continue
supporting government measures in addressing socio economic challenges as part
of the implementation of the company’s program of corporate social
responsibility.
Alhaj Dangote told President Magufuli that
currently the factory was producing 750,000 to 770,000 tons per year but this
year production would be raised to one million tons and in 2018 the factory
would reach its production capacity of three million tons per year.
On new trucks, he said that the launching of the
580 trucks has given new hope to many low income earners in the country because
the trucks would distribute cement all over the country and would allow to be
sold at fordable price of not more than ten thousand shillings.
Alhaj Dangote further explained that since
production started, cement prices had dropped from shillings 15,000/= per 50kg
bag to shillings 10,000/= and expected to drop further following new planned
distribution network by the factory following the launching of the new
trucks.
Meanwhile, President John Pombe Magufuli has
instructed Ministry of Energy and Minerals and Tanzania Petroleum Development
Cooperation (TPDC) to allocate part of Ngaka coalmine in Mbinga District,
Ruvuma region to Dangote Cement Factory so that the later can produce coal to
use in cement production.
President Magufuli issued those instructions during
his tour at the factory before officially launched 580 company’s trucks to be
used to distribute cement to various parts of the country.
He gave the ministry and TPDC seven days to
allocate the land and issue mining license to the company and repeated his
previous call that Dangote should not buy natural gas through private companies
apart from TPDC.
“Dangote must be granted mining license for coal
and must have direct access of natural gas from TPDC” He said and added that
TPDC has to construct special pipeline to supply natural gas to the factory.
He insisted that direct supply of natural gas to
the factory and access to Ngaka coal mine, the company would be at liberty to
choose between the two in running the factory.
President Magufuli said that it was high time that
the responsible ministry and its institutions take necessary measures to
immediately make sure that no other hindrance befall the factory.
He noted that he has been informed of various
setbacks facing the company and cited delaying of clearance of company’s trucks
for two months and said he was surprised when he made a phone call to enquire
about the issue then they were immediately cleared.
He however noted that the company’s management was
to blame for some of those problems facing the company and asked Alhaj Dangote
to rethink of his management.
“Mr. Dangote, you a very a good person but people
who are representing you here are letting you down and it is probably that they
are conspiring with your competitors to deceive you” President Magufuli said.
President Magufuli told Alhaj Dangote that it was
unusual for a business company to procure a number of trucks like he had done
but surprisingly they have been left unused and instead the company continued
to outsource to add more expenses to the company.
He repeated his earlier call to Dangote’s
management that they must directly contact the government for their service
needs instead of using individuals or private companies as go between who he
said were enriching themselves and raised company’s production cost.
“Alhaj Dangote kindly look carefully at your
management; it uses middlemen who cause you problems. I have already instructed
the ministry to not sell gas to middlemen. We want to directly supply gas to
your factory that you can produce electricity at the factory” emphasized the
President.
In December last year, President Magufuli met with
Alhaj Aliko Dangote in Dar es salaam to clear the air when there were various
negative stories published in the media about problems facing the company and
it was claimed that the company was about to close its business in the
country.
During that meeting the President assured Alhaj
Dangote of his commitment and that of his government to continue to create
conducive environment to enable the factory to smoothly undertake its
activities.
Dangote cement factory situated at Msijute Village,
Mtwara region in Southern Tanzania is the biggest cement factory in the
Southern African region.
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