Tume nyingine hiyo inakuja..

[BAK]

wakati zile zilizomaliza kazi walizopewa mapendekezo yao bado hayajafanyiwa kazi

Tume kuundwa kuchunguza Mgololo
Ikunda Erick, Dodoma
Daily News; Thursday,August 14, 2008 @00:03

Waziri wa Viwanda, Biashara na Masoko, Dk. Mary Nagu amekubali kuunda Tume kuchunguza utata wa mkataba wa ubinafsishaji wa Kiwanda cha Karatasi cha Mgololo ambacho sasa kinajulikana kama MPM.

Dk. Nagu alikubali kufanya hivyo baada ya Mbunge wa Karatu, Dk. Wilbrod Slaa (Chadema), kutaka hatua hiyo ichukuliwe, wakati Bunge lilipokaa kama Kamati ya Matumizi juzi ili kupitisha makadirio ya mapato na matumizi ya fedha ya wizara hiyo.

Katika kamati hiyo yaliibuka malumbano baina ya Waziri na mbunge huyo kuhusu utata wa mkataba wa kiwanda hicho, ndipo Mwenyekiti Anne Makinda aliamuru pande zote mbili zishirikiane kufanya uchunguzi na kuleta taarifa bungeni. ‘Shirikianeni kufanya uchunguzi na mtuletee taarifa hapa bungeni,” alisema Makinda ambaye ni Naibu Spika.

Awali, Dk. Slaa alisema utata wa mkataba unatokana na ukweli kwamba ingawa mkataba wa ununuzi wa kiwanda hicho unaonyesha Dola za Marekani milioni 26, ni dola milioni moja tu zilizolipwa. Dk. Slaa pia alisisitiza kuwa Kampuni ya Angel Hurst Industries ya Uingereza yenye hisa asilimia 99.88 katika kiwanda hicho haionyeshwi popote na haijulikani Brela.

Alisema wawekezaji wanaojulikana Brela ni Kampuni ya Rai Brothers ya Kenya yenye hisa asilimia 0.006. Akitoa maelezo ya hoja hiyo, Dk. Nagu alisema Kampuni ya Angel Hurt inajulikana Brela na imesajiliwa katika Visiwa vya Virgin kwa usajili namba 395195. Mapema Dk. Slaa alisema uchunguzi walioufanya ulionyesha kampuni hiyo haikusajiliwa katika visiwa hivyo.

Hata hivyo, Waziri Nagu alisema ubinafsishaji wa kiwanda hicho umekuja baada ya miaka 12 kukosa mwekezaji na hali ya kiwanda kuwa mbaya kwa kuwa kilisimamisha uzalishaji huku serikali ikiendelea kutumia fedha nyingi kugharimia matunzo ya mitambo, hivyo ilibidi kiuzwe kama mali. “Hatua hiyo ilisababisha kiuzwe kwa dhana ya dola moja ya Kimarekani, lengo likiwa mwekezaji aendelee na uzalishaji,” alisema Dk. Nagu.

Alisema kama ungetumika utaratibu tofauti na huo, wawekezaji Rai Brothers wangekuwa na uwezo hata wa kung’oa mitambo ya kiwanda na kwenda kuipeleka Kenya. Baada ya kufafanua hayo, Dk. Slaa alisisitiza kuwa mkataba unaonyesha ni dola milioni moja na siyo dola moja, wakati thamani halisi ya kiwanda hicho ni dola za Marekani milioni 500.

 

[BAK]

Sale of $500m prime state asset for just $1m:

Minister agrees to probe - under pressure from MP

THISDAY REPORTER
Dodoma

THE government will start an inquiry into the controversial privatization of Southern Paper Mills (SPM) Limited following queries from Opposition legislators over the 2004 sale of the formerly state-owned factory for just $1m (approx. 1.2bn/-), while its assets are actually worth a reported $500m (approx. 600bn/-).
The Minister for Industry, Trade and Marketing, Dr Mary Nagu, agreed to appoint a committee to study the privatization of the paper mill located in Iringa Region in the face of persistent questions on the matter raised in the National Assembly.

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday night, Dr Wilbrod Slaa (Karatu-CHADEMA) asserted that it was unthinkable a state-owned company with assets worth at least half a billion dollars could have been sold off for a mere one million dollars.

''None of us is against privatization...The problem lies in the procedure that was used to privatize this particular state asset worth $500m and sell it off so cheaply,'' said Dr Slaa, who is also the deputy leader of the Official Opposition in the National Assembly.

The MP further noted that while the sale agreement states that SPM was sold for $26m (approx. 31bn/-), the price appears to have later been changed to just $1m for stamp duty purposes.

The SPM sale was effected in February 2004, during the era of the third phase government, the buyers being RAI Group Limited, a private company run by Kenyan nationals Jaswant Singh Rai and Sarbjit Singh Rai.

The two Kenyans are understood to have later turned the paper mill over to another company, Angel Hurst Industries Limited, that now holds a 99.988 per cent stake in SPM (now renamed as Mufindi Paper Mills-MPM).

According to Slaa, the identities of the owners of Angel Hurst Industries remains shrouded in secrecy to this day.

''We did our own research in the British Virgin Islands where this mystery investor company is thought to have been registered, but we were unable to find any records of it,'' he told the House.


The lawmaker said officials at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Marketing also appeared unable to confirm if Angel Hurst Industries has been registered by the Business Registration and Licensing Authority (BRELA).

Responding to the queries, minister Nagu said the government decided against an asset sale of SPM to ensure the 'investor' sustained the paper mill instead of dismantling it for the assets.

''After being listed for privatization, this mill stayed 12 years without attracting an investor...If the government had decided to sell the assets of the factory for $26m, the investor would have had the option to dismantle the plant and close down the factory,'' she stated.

She said the government eventually reached an agreement with the 'investor' to sustain production at the factory on the understanding that it would be privatized for $1m.

Defending the overall concept behind SPM's privatization, the minister said it was aimed at safeguarding jobs and ensuring the sustainability of the factory.

On the current shareholding of the privatized company, Dr Nagu told the House that when RAI Group � the original 'investors' � gave notification of its intention to allot its shares in the renamed MPM to Angel Hurst, the government did seek more details of this new 'investor'.

''We phoned the registrar of companies in the British Virgin Islands, and spoke to an officer going by the name of Benedin Smith. He confirmed that Angel Hurst Industries Limited does exist in their records, under registration number 395195,'' the minister said.

She added that further details of Angel Hurst could be obtained by paying a $25 search fee to the British Virgin Islands registrar of companies.

On Dr Slaa's suggestion that a committee be formed to probe the SPM privatization deal, Dr Nagu said the ministry will pursue the matter, although she did not set a particular timeframe as demanded by the Opposition legislator.

Presiding over the session, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Anne Makinda, instructed the minister and the Opposition MP to share their documents and information on the SPM matter and report their joint findings to Parliament.

According to information on the website of the now-defunct Presidential Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSRC) which oversaw the SPM privatization deal, the mill specialized in the production and sale of newsprint, Kraft paper products, printing and writing paper.

It was built in the early 1980s and completed in 1985 with the Finnish consulting and engineering company Jaakko Poyry as project engineers, and includes a Kraft pulp mill producing bleached and unbleached pulp and ground wood pulp mill.

The paper mill has two similar machines - one producing industrial unbleached Kraft papers and the other producing printing and writing papers and newsprint. The mill has its own chemical plant to produce bleached chemicals.

''SPM is the only integrated pulp and paper mill in Tanzania. By virtue of its status as the only manufacturer, SPM is well positioned to serve the domestic market for paper and paper products, which is currently about 25,000 FMT per annum and is forecasted to grow by approximately 5% per annum over the next 10 years,'' says the website.

It adds that SPM ''enjoys a market share of about 7 per cent of the PTA market, which is also forecasted to grow at a similar rate.''

''In 1995, SPM sold over 10,000 finished metric tonnes (FMT) of paper, earning revenues of approximately 4.8bn/- ($8.7m). Domestic sales account for about 70% of the total sales with the remainder going to the export markets within the Preferential Trading Agreement (PTA), including the neighbouring countries of Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe and non-PTA exports,'' says the PSRC website.