Deputy Principal Secretary Local Government, Kagyabukama E.Kiliba (center) hands over a dummy check worth about one billion and seventy million (1,070,000,000) to the Director of the Kibaha Town Council, Ms. Jennifa C. Omolo (right). Left is the Director of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) in Tanzania, Peter Malika.
Deputy Principal Secretary Local Government, Kagyabukama E.Kiliba and Director of United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) in Tanzania, Peter Malika handing over a dummy check worth about one hundred and seven million (107,000,000 / =) to the Benedictine Sisters of St Gertrud Convent Imiliwaha for Lupali small hydro-electric project.
The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) today awarded Tsh2.4 billion seed capital grants to public and private sector project developers during a ceremony held in Dar es Salaam. The Head of UNCDF in Tanzania Mr. Peter Malika and the Permanent Secretary from the President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG), Mr. Jumanne Sagini, handed out six checks to representatives from public and private developers, including a total of Tsh 1.6 billion for commercially viable projects developed by local government authorities in Tanzania.
The aim of thegrants award ceremony was to highlight key achievements of the UNCDF’S Local Finance Initiative (LFI) Programme in support of developers engaged in projects that contribute to local economic development and transform local communities in Tanzania. During the year 2015, the LFI Technical Team provided targeted technical support and seed capital to over thirty projects, nine of which are now in advanced stage and thus ready for investment including the sixawarded today during the ceremony:
1.Kibaha Town Council for construction of a modern commercial bus terminal and market: Tsh1.07 billion.
2.Moshi Municipal Council for construction of a modern commercial bus terminal: Tsh 509 million
3.Ileje Municipal for community radio tower infrastructure in partnership with private sector: Tsh 226 million
4.Ensol Ltda private solar power generation (village grid) project in rural Korogwe district: Tsh 265 million
5.Lupali, a private small hydro-power plantowned and operated by women in rural Njombe District: Tsh 107million
6.Maguta, a private small hydro power generation project in rural Kilolo District: Tsh 214 million
Speaking at the ceremony, the guest of honour, Mr. Sagini, praised UNCDF’s innovative work in local development finance and strategic approach that minimizes risks in catalytic infrastructure projects that are critical in accelerating local economic development in Tanzania.
“The LFI Programme was launched at a time when the Government of Tanzania had undergone a number of economic reforms, including changes in laws, policies and regulations aimed at supporting investments led by local government authorities. In addition to technical support, seed capital and guarantees, the LFI Programme in the last three years has been instrumental in promoting the establishment of appropriate governance structures and separation of duties that make it easy for local government investment companies to access commercial capital from the private sector.”
He added that, “Through close collaboration with UNCDF, efforts are underway to scale up the adoption of the LFI approach in local governments to enhance capacities of local government to effectively plan, budget, identify, and implement similar projects with the private sector. These investments will result in increased revenue for local governments and creation of opportunities for quality service delivery, trade, entrepreneurship, jobs, empowerment of women and youth and improvement of people’s lives.”
The Kibaha Town Council Executive Director, Ms. Jenifa Omolo thanked PO-RALG for their guidance and support as well as UNCDF for their technical expertise in project finance, governance structures and participation in key negotiations with the Tanzania Investment Bank to enable their projects to reach financial closure.
“We have no market in our town just small stalls and we only have a small bus terminal which is not enough to meet the demand – this has been a major challenge for us for over ten years. Our town is growing and we now need modern facilities. Ms. Omolo continued to say that the Kibaha Town Council has a responsibility to provide quality service and that the new modern facilities will help to increase revenue for Kibaha.”
Mr. Malikacommended the Government of Tanzania for its continued commitment and partnership with the UN system in Tanzania, “The UN through UNCDF will continue to work with the Government of Tanzania as we believe in poverty eradication through theLFI approach of transferring investment capital to the local level to promote local development.”
Mr. Malika also stated that, “Despite significant inflows of public and private investment capital for infrastructure, very little is reaching the critical local infrastructure that forms the backbone of dynamic local economies.LFI was designed to address these challenges and it set out to show that local infrastructure projects that are prioritized by local governments and communities can attract funding if existing capital market failures are addressed. LFI was also designed to further promote economic transformation by unlocking primarily domestic capital to fund these projects, thus deepening capital market development and further economic integration and resilience.”
Since its launch in 2012, LFI-T has supported more than 30 local development projects in Tanzania as they advanced from the planning to the investment-ready stage, working closely with PO-RALG and financial institutions. LFI-T supports projects in 18 regions, spread across several sectors ─ agro-processing, climate resilience and clean energy, community infrastructure, telecommunications, and manufacturing. LFI-T will continue operating in Tanzania until 2019. To ensure sustainability of the programme, UNCDF, in close collaboration with PO-RALG, is working on establishing a national platform to further replicate the LFI approach with local governments and the private sector.
In conclusion, the Permanent Secretary congratulated the developers that received seed capital investments from UNCDF and wished them well on their projects. “The Government of Tanzania welcomes the extension of the LFI-Tanzania programme for four more years and reiterates its commitment to support its implementation.”
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