Ministry dishes out hunting blocks in Tanzania to 60 local and foreign companies

[AfricaHunting.com]

Ministry dishes out hunting blocks in Tanzania to 60 local and foreign companies

Dar es Salaam. The ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism yesterday released a list of 60 local and international companies that have been allocated hunting blocks for 2013-2018. A statement signed by the ministry's spokesman, Mr George Matiko, said the companies applied for the blocks in February, this year.

Fourteen blocks were not assigned to any company after applicants failed to meet the conditions. Fifty-one of the 60 beneficiaries are local. "The law limits foreign companies to 15 per cent of the beneficiaries, and this means that Tanzanians still have the chance to hold hunting blocks when we re-advertise them," the statement said, adding that the blocks were allocated in accordance with the Wildlife Act of 2009.

Fifteen companies will each get a single block, while 13 have each been allocated four or five blocks. Conditions set for applicants included investing in the sector, paying tax to the government, fighting poaching, building infrastructure and promoting Tanzania abroad as a tourist destination.


Source: thecitizen.co.tz

 

[BRICKBURN]

Will be interesting to see how they manage to evaluate the performance of the winning bidders on those criterion.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Local firms get most hunting blocks

Local firms get most hunting blocks
by Bilham Kimati

THE government has allocated 60 hunting blocks to professional hunting firms for a period between 2013 and 2018.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism said in a statement issued in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday that 51 blocks or 85 per cent will be owned by local firms and nine or 15 per cent by foreign companies. There are 159 hunting blocks in the country.

However, it said that there are 13 companies owning more than one hunting block. Some are reportedly holding up to five blocks depending on the applications, while 14 other hunting blocks were not allocated after the applicants failed to meet conditions.

"The government is considering ways of improving the hunting blocks that registered drop in the number of game and resources due to causes including livestock grazing, farming and building of houses," reads part of the statement.

It explained that through the Wildlife Act, the Wildlife Department has continued to co-ordinate consumptive utilisation and control of non consumptive utilisation. Professional hunting being one of the means of utilisation.

Initially the hunting business was managed by hunting firms, many of them were foreign companies but complaints led to enactment of the Wildlife Act, to address controversial issues.

Between 2008 and January 2011, re-assessment of the resourcefulness of hunting blocks including biodiversity, size of grazing land and availability of water and accessibility of the area was carried out by the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI).

Other duties included setting of new standards and criteria to be applied during assessment of applicants in addition to appointment of select committee members.

Eleven members were appointed. These are Bakari Mbano (chairman), Dr Simon Mduma , Edward Msyani, Saidi Nzori, Allan Kijazi and Obed Mbangwa.

Others are Steven Ihema, Mary Mwanjelwa, Prof. Letisia Rutashobya, Daniel Nsanzugwanko and Beno Malisa.

Allocation of hunting blocks was preceded by an official announcement by the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Mr Ezekiel Maige, in February, this year followed by invitation of bids for hunting blocks mid-February and June, 2011.

The committee interviewed all 108 applicants countrywide, verified possession of recommended equipment, 1bn/- bond for foreign companies and 300m/- for local companies.

However, priority was given to companies with impressive tax paying record, support to anti-poaching, improvement of the infrastructure, honouring of corporate social responsibility and promotion of the country in US and European tourism markets.


Source: dailynews.co.tz

 

[James.Grage]

Jerome

where did you find this information...

 

[James.Grage]

Tanzanian Affairs: HUNTING
September 1, 2011

The Guardian on Sunday has published a detailed analysis of the lucrative hunting industry following moves to implement the Wildlife Conservation Act of 2009 which, amongst other things, limits the number of hunters and forces foreign firms to give 25% of their shareholdings to Tanzanians. Foreign-owned companies allocated hunting blocs should not exceed 15% of the total hunting companies at any particular time. Thus only nine foreign hunting firms out of 27 will be allocated hunting blocs for the period 2013 to 2018, out of the 65 which applied.

Some observers fear that if 18 major firms are forced to leave Tanzania, over 5,000 Tanzanians might lose their jobs, with the Treasury likely to suffer a loss of nearly $15 million in tourism-related taxes annually.

A Tumaini University lecturer in Wildlife, Corporate, and Land Laws, Nyaga Mawalla, said the WC Act was contravening the investment guarantees offered to investors under the Tanzania Investment Act of 1997 and the Constitution of the United Republic. The Constitution's Bill of Rights provides that all persons are equal before the law and are entitled, without any discrimination, to protection and equality before the law, Mawalla stated and added, The Wildlife Conservation Act No. 5 of 2009, favouring hunting firms owned by a majority of Tanzanians, was discriminating against those Tanzanians who had purchased 25% of the shares from the foreign firms?

Government's position
The spokesperson of the Natural Resources and Tourism Ministry Matiko Mwita, said that arguments with regard to a bad law were supposed to be raised during the enactment of that law and not now. Why [are] these people criticising the Wildlife Conservation Act this time around when we are in the process of allocating hunting blocks? he asked. His ministry was not responsible for making laws. A ministry spokesman said that he was only implementing the laws, regardless of whether they were good or bad.

Under new tourist hunting rules, Tanzania is increasing the cost of licence fees for prime hunting blocks from $27,000 to $60,000 a year. The revised guidelines also categorize the hunting blocks into five depending on the type and number of animals to be hunted.


Source: tzaffairs.org

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Jerome

where did you find this information...

Source: dailynews.co.tz, here is the link to this article: Local firms get most hunting blocks