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Zanzibar says eyeing share of AfDB funds
2006-03-07 08:11:34
By Bilal Abdul-Aziz, Zanzibar
The Zanzibar government (SMZ) is set to push for a ”hefty share’’ of the USD 410 million funding allocated by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to Tanzania’s National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (MKUKUTA).
The Zanzibar Chief Minister, Shamsi Vuai Nahodha, gave the hint during audience with top officials of the AfDB who paid a courtesy call at his Stone Town office on Sunday.
The AfDB delegation, currently on a four-day study tour of Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar, comprises six Executive Directors of the continent’s giant bank, namely ambassadors Cynthia Perry, Gerald Zirimwabugabo, Messrs Francois Arsenault, Phiwayinkosi Ginindza, Barminas Kukuri and Fouad Samir.
’’We shall find means…and we are going to push for a lion’s share from the (AfDB) funding,’’ Nahodha stressed, as he turned to the AfDB’s mission leader, Gerald Zirimwabugabo.
Nahodha said the Isles’ government urgently needed the money for supporting various development projects in the key social sectors, namely health, transport and education.
He said the three sectors played a central role in promoting sustainable growth of Isle’s economy and welfare of its people on one hand and supporting the war on poverty on the other.
He explained that SMZ was currently reviewing its poverty reduction strategy plans, with a view to identifying strengths and weaknesses before embarking on the next stage of implementation.
Earlier, Ambassador Zirimwabugabo advised the SMZ through the Chief Minister’s office to dialogue with the Union Government in ensuring that it gets a good share from the funding.
The AfDB, announced last Friday in Dar es Salaam that it has allocated the money to the Union Government for scaling down abject poverty, both in the mainland and Zanzibar, but did not specify the exact amount for each.
According to Ambassador Zirimwabugabo, the funding was allocated after the country had qualified for the multilateral debt relief, as agreed last year by the group of eight most industrialised nations in the world (the G8).
Tanzania was among scores of countries among the ’’highly indebted poor countries’’ in the continent whose debts were forgiven.
Six top officials of the Bank, made up of 57 African states with a USD 33bn capital base, arrived in the country last Friday to, among other things, meet top government officials and visit development projects receiving its funding.
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