Kafrican
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 26, 2015
- 7,251
- 7,037
Bagamoyo port can't be compared to Mombasa port as it hasn't been built already! It is an investment i.e. we have let the Sovereignty fund of Oman and China Merchants Holdings International (CMHI) build on their won cost! Neither dar nor tanga nor Mtwara ports will be part of this as collateral. understand the difference.
its almost no different.... See assuming that its true that Msa was signed off as security guanrantee... If the chinies were to take over, they wont own the port and all its equipment. ..They will just take over the running of the port and run it for a couple of years...and in those years, all the profits will go to them...but they will still pay taxes and levy and everything else just like any organization private or public.... After they pay back their loan then the port reverts back to the owner.... last year the port Generated $350million to the government, paying even $10B would take less than 15-20 years...Makes it simple for him, Tell him that the land is leased to the chinese to build whatever they want at their own cost and operate it. If they fail well too bad, lease must be paid still.
As for the bagamoyo port, you are giving them 100% ownership for 99 years...or as you might like to call it..lease...In those 99 years they can do whatever they want....The govt will get its tax and land rate just like any institution pays taxes... While this might seem like a good idea at this moment because its a free $10B investment ... but they will own probably the single largest port in Africa... Dar and Tanga port (which are ports belonging to the pwople of Tz) will be rendered obsolete! Most of the goods or shipping line come from Asia where china is king, they will all shift to Bagamoyo and Tz will have no say in it.. infact you might even encourage them at first... but later you will do the math and realise, the service fee which you used to get in dar port goes to the chinese, the port charges will go to the chinese, landi fee to the chinese.... And they would be taking the profits back to China, the only think they will leave you is tax...
It would have been much better if You had just accepted the $10B investment as a loan in a model where the chinese finance, build, operate for a period to get back all their money plus intrest and then eventually and gradually give tz ownership of the port... but in this case they will own it forever!
Imagin if Kenya had not taken a loan but instead let china build the SGR and own it forever, and suffere losses or profits on their own ...it might have sounded like a good idea to some people but some 10-15 years letter when the SGR company would be making super profits while we only get peanuts in the name of taxes, the same ppl like David ndii will be publishing multiple articles showing how we are bleeding money and losing foreign exchange to the chinese while they make super profits from our own export/import business and give us scraps and how that is a bad deal to the economy ...