 |
| World Bank Headquarters in Washington, DC [PHOTO: Shiny Things] |
Dar es Salaam/Washington: Tanzania’s compliance
with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which promotes
greater transparency and accountability in managing oil, gas and mining sectors,
“is a milestone for the country’s economic growth prospects,” said the World
Bank’s Tanzania country director.
“We congratulate Tanzania on achieving this milestone, which
will help translate their natural resources into inclusive and sustainable
economic growth,” said Philippe Dongier, World Bank’s country director for
Tanzania. “The compliance with the EITI
comes at a crucial time when Tanzania has made huge gas discoveries and the
public is calling for responsible management of the new resources.”
Compliance with EITI means that Tanzania’s EITI process,
launched in collaboration between government, mining companies and civil
society, has been formally recognized by the EITI’s international board, which
made the decision on Dec. 11. Tanzania thus joins 17 countries that
are already compliant. Another 20 are candidates for EITI compliance.
The EITI process in Tanzania commits mining companies to
publishing their payments to government and commits government to publishing
the revenues they receive from these companies. These two sets of numbers are
matched up and published, giving citizens the opportunity to know of the income
generated by extracting Tanzania’s natural resources like gold, natural gas,
and other minerals.
Tanzania became an EITI candidate country in February 2009.
In support of Tanzania’s efforts, the World Bank’s Oil, Gas and Mining unit has
used funds contributed under a Multi-donor Trust Fund to assist the country to
implement the EITI principles, particularly by increasing technical capacity of
government and civil society stakeholders so their participation in the process
is more effective.
Tanzania’s extractive industries have experienced a boom
over the past decade, notably with recent natural gas discoveries. This has
attracted more investments, along with increased awareness of the need to
ensure these resources benefit all Tanzanians.
Extractive industries contributed US$305 million to
government revenues in the year ending June 30, 2010, up from US$99 million the
previous year. With the new gas discoveries, revenues are expected to rise
significantly in the future.
“With EITI compliance Tanzania sends a clear message: all
stakeholders want to increase transparency and accountability in the sector,” said Paulo de Sa,
manager of the World Bank’s Oil, Gas and Mining unit. “We are encouraged by Tanzania’s progress and will continue
to support their efforts to ensure extractive resources contribute to reducing
poverty and building much needed infrastructure.”