TEMBO NICKEL PROJECT SABOTAGE WILL DISRUPTING TANZANIA GOVT. ACTIVITIES

Ngara District Commissioner Col Mathias Kahabi has said anyone who tries to sabotage the Tembo Nickel project is purely disrupting the government’s activities and that is unacceptable.

Col Kahabi said this on different occasions in Rwinyana and Bugarama, during public meetings over the weekend on his way to explain the importance of land and asset survey for the communities surrounding the Tembo Nickel project in Ngara District, Kagera Region.

“This is a big project which we must take on board seriously, there is massive investment from abroad and the Tanzanian government has 16 percent ownership. The project is going to help us immensely.

“This means we are the direct guards of this project, and as directly responsible for the security of the district, it is my responsibility to ensure that nobody tampers with this process. You must understand that sabotaging the project means disrupting the government and I will not let that happen,” he emphasized.

In a related development, he discouraged the idea of some people traveling from the Geita and Mwanza regions to convince the villagers in the project area to sell them their pieces of land cheaply.

He added: “They have come to buy farms with few coins, they are speculators and thugs who want to cause havoc and derail the land and asset survey, but they should know that this exercise is being carried out in a highly professional manner and satellite pictures have been taken since the cutoff date of July 18th this year, every crop on these farms has been recorded.

“My advice to you is that you cooperate with the valuers, who are very professional and who want to ensure everyone is compensated fairly” he added

He said the government’s eyes and ears are on this Tembo Nickel critical minerals project and warned village leaders to stop being conned by speculators.

Col Kahabi further said: “We have information that some village leaders are allowing speculators to be part of the village land committees and giving them access to land, they did this in Rusumo but were vigilant and refused to allow this here.

“We know that there are some men who had left families and after hearing about the project, they have returned to sell land and property without caring about the future of their families, and we will not turn a blind eye to this injustice.”

On his part, Relocation Consultant Lead for Tembo Nickel, Basil Shio,  from RSK reiterated that the land and asset survey process is a legal one, and to date, 40 percent of the process has been completed.

“There are some areas we have not completed due to disagreements of boundaries, and we cannot work in areas with disputes. We are currently in Rwinyana Village; we plan to be in the field for four months, we have done two months’ work already and are at 40 percent of the survey process. We have already reached 549 people and surveyed more than 900 parcels of land.”

 

SOURCE: DailyNews

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