How TBA gears for housing development schemes in Tanzania

TANZANIA Building Agency (TBA) has constructed a total of 955 government houses worth Tshs. 37.7 billion between 2002 the time the agency was inaugurated up to December 2008. In total, the agency has constructed over 2000 houses countrywide for other commercial and renting purposes. It has been learnt. Within the period under review, TBA has spent a total sum of Tshs. 5.3 billion for renovation and repair of its head quarter office building located along Sokoine Drive opposite Karimjee Hall in Dar es Salaam. Within the said period, TBA has rented its 584 houses to public servants, and it has collected the sum of Tshs. 9.4 billion, the amount it has received from property tax of its commercial compartments and other houses hired by the public servants in the country. This information is contained in TBA’s annual implementation report prepared for the parliamentary infrastructure committee members amnd which was issued in mid of January 2009 According to the report, in the period under ereview, TBA has succeeded to sell its houses to some public servants who had fulfiled the legal procedures introduced by agency’s administrative board members that requires them to settle their debts up to December 2008. The report says that TBA expects to collect an estimated amount of money amounting to Tshs. 57.1 billion in ten years to come since the start of this exercize. Since the sale of government houses started in 2002, a total of about Tshs. 40.1 billion has been collected as up to December 2008. The amount collected is equivalent to 70 percent of the total sales, whereas the debt owned is Tshs. 17 billion which is equivalent to 29 percent. Debts the agency owes to its customers are required to be settled within four years’ time or before a customers’ retirement depending on their job contracts.

A newly constructed commercial house for TBA in Kinondoni district, Dar es Salaam region.

Together with the total house sales, 473 public servants have not yet fulfilled their contract laid down procedures due to various reasons whereby the values estimated for their houses is Tshs. 1.7 billion Following the sales accrued from these houses, a total of 2,764 workers have finished to pay their debts from the house loan they had taken. Since its establishment in 2002, the agency has been consistently issuing consultancy services to less than 294 projects in the country. Out of these, more than 142 projects are complete whereas the rest are still in various steps of its implementation. The agency has collected a total of Tshs. 7.8 billion as consultancy fees from its clients since 2002 up to December 2008. Either the agency is still owes its clients a total sum of Tshs. 1.4 billion which has not been paid up to now, though the fee notes as well as the Government Bills have been sent to them several times. In another development, most TBA’s buildings have been designed to cope with the disabled need by placing special raised stairs known as RAMP including lifts, special levatories for the sake of use of disabled persons. The agency is primarily concerned with the issuance of building permits for government houses and providing consultancy services to the government on all matters concerning with the procurement of government tenders and their buildings by following the laid down regulations governing procurement procedures as indicated in Procurement Act No. 21 of 2004. For the last three years, the agency has issued 83 legal permits to government offices, and other 62 permits to public servants who were sold government houses. A total of 145 permits have so far been issued to increase the agency’s revenues to the sum of Tshs. 1.4 which has bere accounted for the scrunity fee. The revenue estimates attained by Tanzania Building Agency (TBA) since its inauguration has been showing an annual tremendous increase from Tshs. 3.9 billion in 2002 to Tshs. 16.0 billion for the financial year 2008/09. This is an increase of 412 percent. The revenue attained came from three major sources of income, and these are the main projects the TBA currently engaged with. They include, the sale of the agency’s houses, House rent collected from houses which belonged to the agency and which has been hired to government employees, and revenues attained from other commercial houses rented to the general public including businessmen who are able to pay rent. Other income from which TBA attains its money from the work it does includes the consultancy fees. This is the money the agency receives from the technical advice administered by the TBA in all matters related to building and construction works in general with specific targets to the government houses and their institutions. Either, the specific revenue collections in general have been increasing annually from Tshs. 3.6 billion in 2002 to Tshs. 13.3 billion in the financial year of 2008/09. This is an increase of approximately 368 percent. Since its inauguration seven years ago, TBA has been preoparing a strategic implementation program of its regular responsibilities every year. This program and action of plan comes from a strategic five year plan which was prepared immediately after its inauguration. The action plan is being implemented in due regard of the annual expenditure estimates which are normally prepared depending on the types of works already in pipeline throughout in a concerned period of the financial year. According to the report, the agency’s budget estimates of the expenditure has been increasing year after year whereby in the 2002/03 financial year, the budget estimates was Tshs. 3.7 billion, compared to Tshs. 15.8 for the 2008/09 financial year. There has been an increase of Tshs. 12.0 billion on the part of its expenditure. Either, an average of a true expenditure has been growing year after year to Tshs. 11.4 billion for the financial year ending June 30th 2008. The report shows that, when TBA was inaugurated it started with the true expenditure with Tshs. 4.6 billion. Currently there has been an increase of a true expenditure of Tshs. 6.8 billion. The constant increase of the financial expenditure has been moving parallel with the implementation of various responsibilities assigned by TBA. Some of these responsibilities are the construction of government leaders’ houses and those of the ordinary surbodinates, the renovation works on these houses, the purchase of the furnished household materials to be installed in various government’s leaders houses, the purchase of permanent properties and other related TBA operations activities.

Tanzania needs e-strategies to support people with disability

TANZANIA needs to quickly develop a strategy to enable disabled people to access a wealth of information available locally and globally. That was recently emphasized by Jim Jonazi, a facilitator at a video conference discussion on the access and use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for disabled persons project which was held at Tanzania Global Development Learning Centre (TGDLC)
According to him, while Tanzania has electronics policy on disabled persons, yet it does not have a strategy to implement it. Thus making its successes a dream. He emphasized that for the government to serve the disabled people in the ICT era, it must come up with a strategy to implement the existing e-policy for disabled people.
Contributing to a debate, Mr. Tarek Ben Yousef, a National Director ministry of solidarity and a project leader from Tunisia noted that according to the census made in 2003-2004 in Tunisia, the disabled population was about 152,000 persons. He therefore emphasized in order to give disabled persons access to learning knowledge and culture, and leisure activities in accordance with education, there must be an adequate use of information and communication technologies.
According to him, ICT application is widely available in all special; education centers and inclusive schools in Tunisia, service that give disabled people access to higher training levels and therefore facilitate economic insertion.
During the discussion, a Srilankan head of ICT Mr. Chitranganic Mubarack added that the current status of using ICT in their country is very far and is being applied in all education programs as well as in virtual schools. He noted that the Tele-service offices that enable disabled people to remotely access different services, such as social-economic and cultural information, communication administration are already in existence.
TGDLC that Tanzania used to hook to the other countries is a member of the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) with over 120 networked development communication hubs globally. Its core function is to enable decision makers at all level professional and practitioners to access and share the wealth of knowledge and experience availability in the world through the global communication system that includes video conference, internet video,. VR-ROM and print.

Modern thinking sweeps myths aside

MYTHS meaning things that many people believe but that do not exist or are false, have been around almost from the beginning of humans life itself. For instance, until the 19th century, most of European countries still had a belief that in fairies of human like tiny creatures that had magic powers. As children back in our school days, people used to believe that sharpening a pencil on both ends was an insult to one’s mother. None of the people did it but to this day people do not have no idea as to the origin of the belief. There is devastating power in laughter and however was foolhardy enough to it, was laughed at with almost shuttering effect for his schooldays. The other and rather funny myth involved the popular leapfrog game among children, which was said to stunt the growth of the one jumped over. We did it many times often exchanging roles but none of us became any the shorter. Gone are the days when it was taboo to point a finger at a graveyard for whoever did that according to that myth, would imminently lose a loved one. It was also not normal to see people passing through cemeteries save for times of burial.

Dar es Salaam residents, the so-called jobless youths who spends most of their time throughout a day in open graveyards, whereby they engage in various businesses and other immoral things and without shame, some are seen seated on top of a cemented grave seemingly without giving it a thought. Who is actually to blame? The city council authorities who seemed to have failed top create a fencing compound? This is Karume graveyard in Ilala near regional commissioner’s office in Dar es Salaam.

Cemeteries were still associated with many horror stories. Apart from being places where the dead rested in peace, graveyards were also believed to be the abode of evil spirits. Thus looked at carefully, as far as cemeteries are concerned. People tended to fear more encounter with the ghosts of death than the dead. Before being placed by superior faith, myths reigned until societies received new light. In the case of Europe, widespread beliefs in Christianity did not necessarily wipe out stories of fairies. In fact fairies were often the invisible hand in William Shakespeare’s comedies, plays and poems. Some 500 years after, he remained the greatest weavers of tragedies in literature. Many African societies believed that, the dead, if disturbed, could rise from their dark world to haunt the living. That fear led people not to build houses near graveyards. Thus it was not usual to find a house or any other building near graveyards.

A good example of a fenced graveyard in Kinondoni-Mkwajuni in Dar es Salaam. Should most graveyards look like this one in the city, it could restore respect of the dead laid to rest in such cemetery grounds.

Some years back, a group of thugs exploiting that myth staggered from the Kinondoni graves in Dar es Salaam and hobbled towards a nearby bar. The pandemonium that followed was behind belief. Seemingly confident people who were downing their beer, presumably after a hard day’s work scattered in all directions to save their lives from vengeful ghosts. Criminals had exploited a popular myth to commit a crime in a manner that was almost impossible to investigate save only if one of them had been caught. But who would stand in the way of ghost guest not even a policeman. The fear of death did some people not to dare get near a copse, let alone to touch it. But all that is changing . Houses are now being built very close to graveyards and stories are bound either defiling tombs of graves in ways and manner that would have involved the several curse in the heyday of belief in myths.

Part of the fenced graveyard as it can be seen with some little buildings near to it.

Footpaths through graveyards, if not fenced off are quite common these days. People can now be seen sitting or even napping on tomb stories. Graves are the internal homes of the dead ones, their souls have ascended to heaven, there is nothing to fear about them, says Tom Wanyonyi, a priest at St. Dominic Parish, Mbezi Juu on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam city. Father Wanyonyi adds that people are more aware of what death is and have come to accept it as normal ending of human life. That is why they have now built houses near graveyards. “What lies in tombs is mere bones, and what we ought to do is to pray for the souls of our departed life, as we believe in life after death” says father Dominic. The fact that people nowadays die in other people’s hands and other reach a point of touching and kissing their loved ones when paying their last respects, signifies that people no longer mystify death as was the case in the past. Muhidini Hassan from the Hajj department at the Muslim council of Tanzania (BAKWATA) says that it is not good to encroach on land set aside for cemeteries. Living near cemeteries posed neither social nor spiritual problems but warns against defiling the resting places for the dead. He gave the examples of early Dar es Salaam residents like Mzee Kopa and Mwinyijuma of Mwananyamala suburb in Dar es Salaam city who offered their free land for burial in 1960s. But when the city became more and more congested, people started encroaching on the land. Hassan attributes all that to ignorance of the holy scriptures from both the Christians and Muslims. Moral decay and the effect of globalization whereby peddling nudity has become normal.

TOWARDS BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE IN TANZANIA

Is the National ICT policy implemented to achieve the goal?

Tanzania’s National ICT policy was prepared under the auspices of the then Ministry of Communication & Transport, now termed as the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and released on March 2003. The policy is a sole compass for all ICT driven activities in the country with a view to ensure an effective implementation of the IT knowledge so as to spruce up national economic development goals.
Everybody can agree with the fact that, the implementation of the ICT initiatives in Tanzania is moving at a snail pace despite the country embarked on the development of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) about a decade ago.
However, since the policy came into being, little has been done in terms of mainstreaming the ICT sector and the entire activities, including the application of the Information Technology.
The mission statement of this policy is “To enhance nation-wide economic growth and social progress by encouraging beneficial ICT activities in al sectors through providing a conducive framework for investments in capacity building and in promoting multi-layered cooperation and knowledge sharing locally as well as globally”.
Despite of the fact that Tanzania is the first country within Sub-Saharan region to establish own ICT policy, much emphasis has not been put to prioritize the usage and the application of the basic ICT tools for national development.
Analysts within the sector say that there is a negligence to a full commitment by government on dealing with the issues related with the ICT development in the country despite of the fact that a number of obstacles such as poor infrastructure and illiteracy still exists among users.
The National ICT policy is linked to both Communication Acts and Telecommunication Acts. Other Acts and policies directly relevant to ICT include the Broadcasting services Act of 1993 and the Broadcasting services policy that is currently under review.
Drafting of a national ICT policy implementation strategies is a broad based task force under the current ministry of Technology and Communication. The policy has been deliberately aligned to Tanzania’s Development Vision 2025, and to the great dismay, little has been reformed to boost the sector.
ICT is defined as the ability to manage and manipulation of information including the conduit to transmit this data to various recipients in different parts of the country, regionally as well as globally. It has the prerequisite that users must be literate and be able to sustain ICT implementation and have absorption capacity.
According to National ICT Coordinator in the country, Engineer Augustine Kowero, in order to strengthen the national ICT policy in the country, people, civil society groups and the government need to use best practices in order to leap-frog in the arena of ICT.
According to him, the use of intellectual property usage and principles plays a big role in achieving this. Engineer Kowero is in the view of the fact that the nation must adhere to the ICT policy as stipulated to ensure an effective implementation of the national development goals. In analyzing Tanzania’s ICT status since the policy was instituted, ICT educators in the country maintains that, “the government has not made concerted efforts to give a push to the spread of ICT countrywide as a key vehicle towards achievement of the country’s development vision 2025.
For the case of access to infrastructure, according to International Telecommunication Union (ITU), statistics on Tanzania shows that its Tele-density is still low with a number of fixed lines currently standing at 6 telephone lines per 1,000 people. That’s 0.06 percent.
The number of mobile phone subscribers currently stands at 81 per 10,000 inhabitants. In contrast, the city of Dar es Salaam which has the leading subscription base in the country, has 5 lines and 10 mobile phone subscribers per 100people. Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has registered over 10 companies to provide public data communication services including internet bandwidth. These data operators have isolated initiatives of connecting their points of presence to the global internet backbone. The lack of national Internet Exchange Point (IXP) also means that much of Tanzania’s local traffic is routed via international routes. This is inappropriate use of a scarce and expensive resource that increases the cost of local internet access for users.
There are presently about 23 licensed ISPs in Tanzanian providing between 10,000 & 15,000 dial-up accounts in the country with many more users via company and government’s Local Area Networks ( LANS) and internet cafes. Available e-readiness studies suggest that there is a large unsatisfied demand in the country for internet access.
Tanzania has a small emerging skilled capacity to support the ICT industry in terms of hardware and software. The IT industry is small although there are a surprisingly diverse range of goods and services offered, statistics shows that only 52 companies deals with computer hardware, software and maintenance services in the country.
Few local companies are developing computer application packages and most of the software used by Banks, multi-nationals, large private sector companies, schools, Universities and in government’s ministries, Agencies and imported at considerable cost. In education, very few primary & secondary schools as well as teacher’s training colleges in the country have access to computer laboratories even fewer of these facilities are linked to the internet.
There is an official secondary school computer studies syllabus for forms one to four. However, only very few students have taken these courses so far. Lack of a program for training teachers of computer studies has been identified as a reason for slow take up of computer studies in both primary and secondary schools..
The state of education in the country is inequitable and of generally poor quality. Educational opportunity is highly stratified, decent schooling is increasingly the preserve of a small elite, and currently practices reinforce and intensify existing disparities in the country.
Though the ICT has helped the education sector access in Tanzania, still many more educational institutions in the country have computer laboratories and other multi-media facilities. These facilities are more in private schools and even fewer of these facilities are linked to internet.
At Universities and other institutions of higher learning, few computers are available for use by students and staff. Moreover, they are not enough to meet the demand. There is a shortage of well-qualified professionals of ICT in Tanzania, likewise, there is no well established ICT professional profiles, and a standardized process of evaluation or certification of the different courses offered by various training centers is lacking. Many ICT users in Tanzania access the internet cafes, in view of this situation, there is therefore a need to reduce barriers in deploying ICT and in developing the required human capital for sustainable participation of Tanzanian information society in the ICT industry.

Selecting modern construction equipment and their role

WHILE selecting the type of construction equipment to employ, one must consider the nature of work involved. For instance in Dam construction, the required machines would be dozers, excavators and wheel loaders, while in road construction one would require compactors motor graders and backhoe loaders among others. I addition, the size of the project must be put into consideration. For instance incase of a new road construction, one would require a powerful 140H Motor grader because it can rip more virgin ground compared to 120h which is more suitable for maintenance work. In the highly competitive demolition field, a contractor is most concerned with machine versatility, durability and dependability. All machines working at site are often needed to perform multiple tasks. Various work tools properly applied are the key to success. According to one automobile technician, James Kasmir, as far as durability and reliability is concerned, machines and work tool designs must afford the maximum time when utilized in har5sh environments. With this information in mind, selecting among the variety of wheel loaders, skid steers and backhoe loaders available, should be a bit easier though each machine offers different strength that may be more suitable for a given job.

Motor graders are construction equipment used for clearing weeds wherever it's has been proposed for a roiad construction. Hence they are specialized in road construction purposes.

Designed diesel engine module is the latest technological invention in the construction sector. This provides engine response and fuel efficiency and also helps in reducing emission in the environment. According to one Sales Engineer Mr. Praveen of the Hyundai East Africa limited, a leading supplier of modern construction equipment in the country, this technology is only found in caterpillar products and have earned the company the highest environmental order in Europe and developed countries. According to him, on the inception of these technologies, customers were hesitant to buy machines with many electronics as they were afraid of the maintenance of the machines, but with time they have come to appreciate the benefit of these new technologies. Some food handling companies are meeting some emission standards as a requirement. Trouble shooting of electronic machines is much faster compared to manual equipments which have made customers prefer equipment with the current technological inventions. Electronic technician is one of the equipments used in maintenance which is able to troubleshoot any technicalities in the engine. The manufacturer recommends maintenance of equipments after the recommended period is reached for service. For instance, after 250 hours it’s recommended to service equipment through inspection that determines the state of the machine. Following regular inspection, one is advised on prevention actions to take to prevent future breakdowns.

Caterpillars are also powerful construction equipment

Failure to adhere with proper maintenance intervals and procedures may result in diminished performance of the product and or accelerated wear of components. Some of the challenges facing the sector includes the high initial cost especially when the economy is not good, hence most companies or individuals cannot afford to purchase the right equipment. Unfair competitions from inferior products being sold at throw away prices without support. To deal with the above challenges, respective governments should set standards for the type of equipment to be used by contractors undertaking funded government projects. Creating awareness of the range of equipments and support available in the region and what value they bring.

Mobile phone technology services, a wonderful experience

The trends of the mobile phone industry in the world is growing so rapidly with highly sophisticated scientific technological make on handsets which are modified in numerous innovations to come up with many other things such as picture messaging, games and access to the favourite music. The ever-changing mobile communications industry is again transforming consumer perception of telephony on-the-move. In fact, mobile phones today serve a completely new purpose. No longer is it solely about the need to contact a friend, colleague or family member at any time or place. What reaches out to the majority of consumers today is the uniqueness of a handset; as mobile technology becomes fashion accessory. Constant advancements in technologies ensure for choice, with the capacity to personalize almost every aspect of a mobile phone. Consumers have been groomed to demand an increasingly high standard of functionality in their mobile phones. The good news for mobile phone suppliers is that this ensures handset replacement is rapid, as research and development evolves the phone into a personal organizer, music player, camera and mobile entertainment centre. People wants to enjoy games, video clips and music from our phones and the mobile music industry in particular is going from strength to strength. As a result mobile phone giants, such as Sony Ericsson, Siemens, Sumsung, Nokia, Motorola are exploiting demand with the imminent release of the W800 in advance. It will be interesting to see how such sophisticated phone models will compete against the competitive and fashion-conscious portable MP3 player market. Although products such as the Apple’s high profile MP3 player have taken off significantly and seem to be in everyone’s pocket, three years since the launch. Image is a crucial factor that mobile phone providers should take into consideration. Consumers are concerned with the way in which a product can reflect their personal identity. Therefore the design of a mobile phone is important. Phones that look the part are highly favoured. As a result, mobile phones now come in all shapes, sizes and colours. Some companies, who want to encourage consumer engagement at an early age, have extended their marketing campaigns to include targeting children with brightly coloured mobiles featuring
As if this was not enough, many consumers go to extensive lengths to find the most up-to-date ring tones and screensavers. Consequently, a myriad of websites now exist specifically to cater for this growing market.
Modern consumers are no longer satisfied with the traditional downloadable tones which can range from classical music to the latest chart toppers. The public have generally responded positively to such a vast selection, with the exception of the "crazy frog" which is the first ringtone. But the kids apparently love it, but not everyone is happy.
The much awaited third generation (3G) mobile technology will enable users to experience a whole new dimension of mobile services and subscribers will be able to access a wide range of new applications such as video telephony which allows two people to speak on their mobile phones while watching one another live, on the handset.
Such an application is a new scientific approach which can be extremely useful while consulting an important person in case of an emergency or chatting to dear ones. Users would also be able to avail of video messaging and video mailbox including streaming live and recorded breaking news and sports events as well as video based alerts. These will be particularly useful for sports fans as they can quickly share results. For example, when a goal is scored, a video clip can be sent to a customer.
The existing mobile service subscribers would not have to do anything to migrate to the 3G platform since their Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card and mobile phone numbers will remain the same. Only the additional service would be marketed and charged for.
When a 3G user is unable to take a call, the caller can leave a video message in the video mail box that can be viewed later. 3G services, would also allow users to listen, watch, compose and create music by downloading it from content providers at high speeds.
Subscribers would also be able to get true-tones or clips of real music as their ring-tones. "With 3G people will be able to get the latest film and video trailers on their mobile phones with a superb audio and video quality and wallpapers.
Video game addicts will be able to play thousands of such games on their mobile phones while TV addicts can watch their favourite channels on their handsets. "With Mobile TV, a mobile phone will become a portable television set with all top programmes right in the palm of hands.
The 3G 3rd Generation is the generic term used for the new generation of mobile communications systems. It will also enable users to connect faster to the Internet and allow laptops to be connected to the Internet through the mobile phone, with speeds as fast as 384kbps or seven times higher than a standard dial-up connection.
The mobile phone industry is certain to continue evolving, with some research suggesting that one day phones will take the place of credit cards and the remote control. The innovation and level of competition in the mobile music and mobile phone markets can only mean greater choice and lower competitive prices.
The vision for 3G was based on the previous generations 2G system of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard, but evolved, extended and enhanced to include an additional radio air interface, better suited for high speed and multimedia data services. This system enables users of current 2nd Generation GSM wireless networks to migrate easily to the new 3rd Generation services, with minimal disruption.
People can now talk to each other face-to-face on their mobile terminals using the latest 3G technology which currently is available from, Orange and Vodafone companies in Europe, the rest will follow soon.
The 3G mobile phone systems will enable users to experience a whole new dimension which enables one to log onto the office network, surf the Internet, order and pay for goods, manage the investments on the stock markets, check the weather or find the nearest Italian restaurant. The list of potential uses for wireless communications in the future is endless. Access to them all will be from wherever someone happen to find himself or herself at the time.

Apply ICTs for African rural sustainability

THE Provision of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to rural people is a key towards accelerating social-economic development. But it is very sad to note that rural people continues to suffer from the disadvantages in the access to these superhighways. The ICT services and the accessibility of the relevant communication components such as computers connected with the internet, fixed and mobile telephones, faxes etc, are less established in most rural communities in Africa. People need channels of communication in rural areas for a variety of reasons including access to agricultural commodities and prices, education, livelihood and healthcare in order to maintain social networks as well as participating in democratic process. In broader terms, ICTs refers to any technique or knowledge used to create, store, manage and disseminate information in the society and about 95 percent of the global economic activities are integrated by the use of the ICTs And to have these ideas workable, governments have to give priorities in their national budgets to effectively build communication links such as roads for a smooth accessibility of both telephones and electricity. Reliable ICT facilities and services requires a reliable energy supply, the standard approach by operators and mobile phone system in rural areas has been successful following the installation of diesel operated generators.

Computers connected with the internet is a good resourceful tool for African development goals.

In Tanzania for example, it is vivid to note that due to poor infrastructural facilities, coupled with illiteracy and extreme poverty, these are among the most critical persistent elements that constrains access of ICTs in rural areas. Economic analysts say that this is due to the fact that the investments in the sector is more focused on corporate customers in urban areas and not individuals in rural areas where the majority lives. To some extent, the problem is more aggravated by investors who wants to make quick money rather than take the trouble to develop technologies suitable for the local market. As the situation persists, the ICT’s application deteriorates an aspect that cause the services rendered to be expensive. Though Tanzanian government removed tariffs in all imported computers and accessories in past national budgets about six yeas ago, this fiscal push has not so far turned out to become a powerful incentive for attracting ICT investors in rural areas. Among the most cited reasons by the private sector is lack of reliable electricity and the high cost of establishing infrastructure and expensive bandwidth services.
The ICT stakeholders have observed the situation saying that, due to the insufficiency about the awareness on the use of the ICTs tools among the poor people in rural community in the country, who covers 90 percent of the country’s population lack experience to spearhead national development. Instead most people tend to make use of other ICTs such as television for luxury. The government through its various initiatives towards the digital divide has recognized the most crucial role the sector play for the national development and has taken steps to address the issue from the grassroots level. As from 2007, the fourth phase government has made a tremendous progress towards democratizing accessibility and support the applications of ICT when it formed a separate ministry of Information and Technology to deal with ICT matters as well as other areas related to it in the country. A new Universal Communication Access Fund (UCAF) would be established with a view to supporting indigenous Tanzanians who wish to set up ICT projects and other communication facilities in rural areas. Once the existence of the fund is realized, it would facilitate the provision of efficient ICT infrastructure and communication services at low and affordable costs to the remote areas in the country from the district level. The trend of government in regard to ICT has been to connect their network up to the regional scale for both internet and data. To realize these ICT benefits, a number of issues need to be adequately addressed such as the development of efficient and sustainable national ICT infrastructure networks.

Computer accessibility is a way through to curb with the impending social problems existing in societies. Unlike in African countries, the access to these superhighways is limited mostly due to the growing poverty stricken situation.

ICT is good for the poor as well for big business and few years ago it was difficult to convince investors that it was a good business to introduce mobile phone services to urban Tanzania. With the persisting problem of rural ICT access, people are faced with a number of difficulties of reaching these markets, but these could be overcome by new wireless ICT infrastructures that are affordable and user friendly, says an ICT consultant Engineer Ronald Kisuka a Kenyan national working in the country. According to him, the current Tanzanian ICT situation requires urgent steps to enable Tanzanians to participate meaningfully in the knowledge economy, recognizing that the country has low levels of humans capital development, local content creation, poor infrastructure and access which together lead to high costs of participation. The dangers posed by the digital divide and the risk of being excluded further from the knowledge and special development has propelled the government to put in place a new framework through which coordinating mechanism and harmonized strategies might be nurtured.