Tanzania may have to implement another electricity tariff increase later this year to enable power utility, Tanesco, to operate profitably.

Although a substantial 21.7 per cent tariff increase was effected on February 1, 2008, this has been found to fall short of the cost recovery level that was requested by Tanesco.

The upshot is that the state controlled utility will continue to experience operational cash shortfalls, which could reach Tsh50 billion ($28.5 million) in 2008.

The details are contained in minutes of discussions between the government and a mission of the International Monetary Fund that visited the country in March this year.

While it is not anticipated that Tanesco will need subsidies in the current financial year, the government has recommended that the power utility considers cost-cutting measures.

Tanzania must get Tanesco to financial viability if the country is to enjoy a reliable electricity supply.

Last year, Tanesco had applied to electricity industry regulator, EWURA, for a 40 per cent power tariff increase.

It is understood that EWURA has agreed to consider another request for a tariff increase once Tanesco completes a cost of service study and takes measures to reduce non technical losses - notably theft of electricity.

Tanesco is currently reviewing its financial situation in view of EWURA’s ruling.

In the meantime, the power utility is using the private emergency power generators to meet intermittent power supply deficits.

Currently, the company is in the process of procuring its own 145MW gas-fired generation capacity.

Despite good rains, the financial situation of Tanesco remains vulnerable, partly because of failure to implement cost reducing measures in its financial recovery plan, including the buy out of IPTL, the conversion of its plant and the refinancing of the Songas expansion. Negotiations with IPTL’s main creditors are currently under way.

Tanzania’s energy budget has increased steadily in recent years mainly as a result of the emergency power projects, consisting mainly of leased and owned generators funded through the multilateral debt relief initiative from the IMF.

Although the economy has remained strong - averaging 7 per cent during 2001-2007, thereby outpacing the average for sub-Saharan Africa, intrinsic weaknesses have began to emerge lately.

Government expenditure has bloated significantly, financed mainly by a significant broadening of the revenue base and scaled up donor assistance.

This year’s budget was written against the background of uncertainties in donor financing. Consequently, the government may this year be forced to borrow more from the domestic market to substitute foreign financing.

The circumstances may force the government to introduce expenditure cuts to cushion the budget from the impact of temporary financing uncertainty.

Secondly, inflation has increased in recent months, mainly reflecting rising global food and fuel prices.

There are also risks that inflationary pressures could spread in an environment of rapid credit expansion.

Still, Tanzania’s performance ranks among the best for non-oil exporting countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Source: allAfrica.com

Harare: Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will put out of the June 27 run-off election on Sunday, citing increasing violence as a primary reason.

"We in the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) have resolved that we will no longer participate in this violent, illegitimate sham of an election process," Tsvangirai told reporters.

He added that a free and fair election ‘is impossible’ under the current circumstances, and urged the United Nations and African Union to intervene in what he called ‘genocide’ in Zimbabwe.

This decision would mean President Robert Mugabe will remain the leader of the restive nation.

Meanwhile, youth members of Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party on Sunday attacked journalists and forced election observers to leave a rally for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, MDC said.

The MDC said in a statement, "Thousands of Zanu-PF youth militia, armed with iron bars, sticks and other weapons, have attacked journalists and forced election observer teams to flee from the venue of the MDC scheduled rally. Police are firing tear gas."

Police had banned the rally, but a Zimbabwe court overturned this on Saturday and said it could go ahead.

The youth militia, notorious for its violence, arrived by the busload. It set up road blocs at the main approach streets to Harare’s show ground to prevent opposition supporters from reaching the venue, ripped branches from trees and hurled stones at cars.

Hundreds of militants, many with sticks and wearing Zanu-PF ruling party colours, marched past its headquarters chanting slogans. Eight Zanu-PF trucks, warning lights flashing and crammed with passengers, circled the area.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change claimed that the militants were beating opposition supporters who were trying to reach the venue. The party’s claim could not immediately be confirmed.

Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai had planned an afternoon address to the rally, his main campaign event before Friday’s runoff.

Source: Gulf News

Three people were seriously injured and another is reported missing after a 10-storey building collapsed in Dar es Salaam today. The building collapsed today at around 11 am but was reported to be gradually sinking since Friday. Police are holding the Acting Ilala Municipal Council engineer, Mr Nassoro Robert for questioning.

The cause for the collapse is yet to be established. Dar es Salaam Special Zone Police Commander Suleiman Kova said today that the police had also questioned the owner of the property, Mr Muhsin Somji (52) and that they were still looking for the contractor (name withheld).

The building, a proposed commercial structure on Plot Number 9 at Mtendeni Street within the city’s central business district, fell on a 2-storey building that housed a furniture and carpet shop on Plot Number 10 whose owner, Mr Ajay Lahkshan, said four people were in the shop when the incident occurred.

Three of them were rescued and the third victim - identified as Shamte - is considered missing. Those rescued are Ms Sharifa Juma, Ms Halima Seleman and Mama Lubabwe, all of whom were taken to separate hospitals - Ms Juma and Ms Seleman were taken to Muhimbili and Lubabwe to the Agakhan hospital.

According to a billboard on the site of the collapsed building, the main contractor was listed as N.K. Decorators, the architect as JEAM Associates and the structural engineer as CODEC. The client is McSoms Investment Ltd.

The Registrar of the Contractors Registration Board (CRB), Mr Boniface Muhegi, said that the contractor has been legally registered by his board and that it was too early to speculate who is to take the blame. “There are so many things that need to be looked at, there are many people that have a role to play and what really went wrong can only be established by a thorough investigation,” he said.

Engineers Registration Board (ERB) Registrar, Mr Ramo Makani, told this paper that the consulting engineer was also legally registered by his board – but also added it was too early to comment anything. “Building has its process that includes the municipal council inspecting every stage of construction before giving any go-ahead for another stage.

It will take time to establish what really happened,” he said. The architect, JEAM Associates, is also legally registered by the Architect and Quantity Surveyors Registration Board (AQRB), the board’s registrar Mr Abraham Marress told the ‘Daily News’ today.

The Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlement, Mr John Chiligati, said that he had not been filled in with details of the incident and asked to be given more time to look into the matter. According to Mr Kova, police have already launched an investigation into the matter but would not give further details.

On March 17, 2006 a four-storey building collapsed in Chang’ombe, Dar es Salaam, killing one person. Following the accident, the then premier Mr Edward Lowassa formed a committee of stakeholders and experts to inspect all buildings in the city, completed and those under construction. The purpose of the inspection was to ensure that all buildings meet the required standards to avoid incidents of high-rise buildings collapsing. The team’s report is yet to be made public.

Source: Daily News

ClickAfrique takes a look at Tanzania which has been ranked as having the best natural environment in the 2008 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report by the World Economic Forum…..

The second annual Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008 was released recently by the World Economic Forum and this year’s Report, under the theme Balancing Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability, places a particular focus on this issue, both through a reinforced environmental component of the Index used to measure travel & tourism (T&T) competitiveness and through topics covered by the analytical chapters.

In the latest report, 130 countries were profiled and one of the key indices looked at was the country’s natural environment.

Natural environment is a terminology that encompasses all living and non-living things that occur naturally in a region. This includes a few key components such as complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive human intervention, including all vegetation, animals, microorganisms, rocks, atmosphere and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries.

It also includes universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from human activity.

When the natural environment of all the 130 for the Report were examined, the east African country of Tanzania was ranked #1 in the world. The country is bordered by Kenya and Uganda on the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique on the south by the Indian Ocean to the east.

Tanzania’s natural beauty is best exemplified by the mountainous region in the north-east of the country, where Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, is situated. Standing at 5,895 meters (19,340 ft), Mount Kilimanjaro provides a dramatic view from the surrounding plains. The highest point on Kilimanjaro is Uhuru Peak, which is one of the Seven Summits (the highest mountains of each of the seven continents). Due to Kilimanjaro’s equatorial location and high elevation, almost every climate type on earth is represented, including a year-round snow-topped summit.

Central Tanzania comprises a large plateau, with highland areas, plains and arable land. The Great Rift Valley runs through the middle of the country.

The eastern shore is hot and humid, with the island of Zanzibar lying just offshore. Zanzibar is actually an archipelago of several small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, informally referred to as "Zanzibar"), and Pemba.

To the north and west are Lake Malawi (Nyasa) and the Great Lakes of Lake Victoria (Africa’s largest lake), and Lake Tanganyika (Africa’s deepest lake, known for its unique species of fish) which are shared with Malawi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya and Uganda respectively.

In the south west of the country are the spectacular Kalambo Falls, which are the second largest in Africa and are located near the southern tip of Lake Tanganyika.

Tanzania’s main river is the Rufiji which lies entirely within the country. The river is formed by the convergence of the Kilombero and Luwegu rivers. It is approximately 600 km (375 mi) long, with its source in southwestern part of the country and its mouth on the Indian Ocean. The river’s delta contains the largest mangrove forest in the world.

Much of Tanzania’s environment is protected by a system of National Parks. The rolling plains of the Serengeti National Park are home to millions of animals and birds including herds of antelope, zebra and wildebeest. These bovids participate in a large scale annual migration. Up to 250,000 wildebeest perish each year in the long and arduous movement to find forage in the dry season. Tanzania is also home to 130 amphibian and over 275 reptile species, many of them strictly endemic and included in the IUCN Red lists of different countries.

Other conservation areas include Arusha National Park, Gombe Streams National Park, Mahale Mountains National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Ruaha National Park and Tarangire National Park.

The coral island of Chumbe, which forms part of the archipelago of Zanzibar is one of the most well known nature reserves in East Africa and aims to promote awareness of coral reef ecology.

Tanzania has put in a lot of effort to protect its environment as it sees it as a vital tool in bringing in tourists that would help to boost it economy.

A list of African countries and how their natural environments were ranked is shown below.

African Ranking                            World Ranking                                 Country

          1                                                                     1                                                Tanzania
          2                                                                    11                                               Uganda
          3                                                                    17                                               Zambia
          4                                                                    21                                               South Africa
          5                                                                    24                                               Kenya
          6                                                                    31                                               Botswana
          7                                                                    33                                               Zimbabwe
          8                                                                    34                                               Ethiopia
          9                                                                    38                                               Cameroon
          10                                                                  42                                              Namibia
          11                                                                  51                                               Senegal
          12                                                                  54                                               Benin
          13                                                                  61                                               Mozambique
          14                                                                  67                                              Burkina Faso
          15                                                                   70                                              Nigeria
          16                                                                   74                                             Madagascar
          17                                                                   77                                             Mali
          18                                                                   83                                             Burundi
          19                                                                   86                                             Egypt
          20                                                                   91                                             Chad
          21                                                                   93                                             Mauritania
          22                                                                  94                                             Tunisia
          23                                                                  95                                              Gambia
          24                                                                  97                                             Algeria
          25                                                                  114                                           Libya
          26                                                                 118                                            Morocco
          27                                                                 126                                            Mauritius

Source: Click Afrique