In February 2004, prime minister Frederick Sumaye set up a Mineral Policy Committee to prepare an in-depth review of the mineral sector to stimulate additional economic growth.
The committee's report emphasised the urgent need to build capacity within government institutions and agencies so as to enable sustainable development of a modern, market-driven sector.
It also emphasised the establishment of a modern and transparent administrative and oversight setup for the sector; consolidating the mineral sector growth achieved since the late 1990s and continuing developing basic geo-information to sustain investment promotion.
The project manager for the Technical Assistance Project, Hayaz Mruma, told The EastAfrican last week that improving the overall governance and long-term institutional and technical capacity of the government to manage the mineral resources of Tanzania in a sustainable manner is one of the objectives of the project.
The other proposed development objective is to support poverty reduction and stimulate economic growth in selected rural areas of the country, through development of non-farm income generating opportunities based mainly on small-scale and artisan mining activities, said Mr Mruma.
One of the components of the project is improving the benefits of the mineral sector for Tanzania including small-scale and artisan mining, local economic development and skills development.
Further to the recommendations of the Mineral Policy Review Committee, the Ministry of Energy and Minerals is preparing programmes to modernise artisanal and small-scale mining.
"These actions aim at having positive impact and benefits to the mining industry and mining communities," reads the concept note.
This sub-component will support the updating of artisanal and small-scale mining baseline studies including rapid assessment and mapping to determine the extent of artisanal and small-scale mining activities and their impact.
Further support would go towards sector environmental assessment and poverty and social impact assessment; strengthening existing regional or district offices to build trust with mining communities and provide extension services, demonstrate different strategic and technical approaches in a holistic manner to stimulate legal and responsible mining activity.
Source: Daily Nation
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