|
Tanzanian Tannery Reopens After UNIDO Visit Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 4 April 2002 In November 2001 the Laketanners tannery at Kibaha, located between Dar es Salaam and Morogoro, polluted the air with such a bad smell that the regional authority was forced to stop production. On 14 March, 2002, UNIDO experts on effluent treatment plant and clean leather technology presented their diagnosis to representatives of the Ministries of Industry, Livestock and Water, regional authorities and the National Environmental Management Council and the tannery management. On 4 April, the Coast Regional Commissioner Mr. N. Banduka officially announced the reopening of the Kibaha tannery. Commissioner Banduka has also requested UNIDO to examine the possibility of assisting the tannery extend its production facilities beyond the current ability to produce to the "wet-blue" stage to produce finished leather. The Kibaha tannery only one of two tanneries currently operating in Tanzania and the other tannery, at Moshi, which produces finished leather, could be closing down. At the moment, micro, small and medium- sized leather goods and footwear industries obtain their finished leather from the Moshi tannery or from Zambia, Kenya or Malawi. In the formal leather products manufacturing sector, the Italianshoe shoe factory at Dar es Salaam is the only shoe factory operating in Tanzania at the moment. UNIDO is currently examining the feasibility of extending the product line of this factory. With UNIDO's assistance, as of March 2002, leather production training facilities are now fully operational in rehabilitated facilities in Dar es Salaam and Morogoro. In contrast to the slowdown in formal sector output, the informal sector of leather products manufacturers (micro- industries) are performing quite well. Some 40 production units having received assistance from UNIDO and over 400 people trained in leather products manufacturing. The impact of these activites is quite noticeable; some 70 new jobs have been created and average income has been increased by almost 50%. UNIDO leather specialist Aurelia Calabro- Bellamoli has carried out a review of the Tanzania Leather Sector and met with Ministry of Industry and Trade, Director of Policy and Planning, Ahmada Ngemera in November, 2002, to discuss the revitalization of the leather industry. A paper on relaunching of the sector has been prepared by UNIDO for submission to the Tanzanian Cabinet.
Aurelia Calabro - Bellamoli, Source: UNIDO |
