MINISTER SAYS NO TO FUEL WOOD USE

Deputy Minister (VPO-Environment) Ms Ummy Ally Mwalimu

By Bernard Lugongo,The Citizen Reporter

Dar es Salaam. Two textile factories in Arusha have been given a three-month ultimatum to stop using logs as firewood in a move to save environment.

The Vice President’s Office (Environment) issued the order recently to A to Z Textile Mills Ltd and Sunflag (Tanzania) Ltd, and directed them to use coal instead.

In an exclusive interview with The Citizen recently, the then deputy minister in the docket, Ms Ummy Mwalimu, said the government’s move was necessitated by the impact the large scale use of logs as firewood had on the environment.

“We must take measures to drastically reduce the use of firewood by factories.  I have ordered them to stop using logs as fuel,” she said.

Ms Mwalimu, who has been transferred to the Ministry of Constitutional and Legal Affairs following the weekend Cabinet reshuffle, issued the directive when she visited the two factories.

However, she said, she was pleased to learn  from the A to Z management that the factory was no longer using firewood  for production.

“Although what the management said was encouraging,  I later found logs lying somewhere within the building.  When I asked what they were for, they replied that they were being used for lighting fire,” he said.

Ms Ummy noted that the Sunflag had reduced the use of firewood by 75 per cent.  It is expected that by end of ultimatum they will have completely stopped using timber.

However, the managements of the two factories complained that it was “very costly” to transport coal to Arusha from Ruvuma Region.

Ms Mwalimu said he would take the matter into consideration by encouraging businesspeople dealing in coal to establish warehouses in Arusha.

CREDIT SOURCE: THE CITIZEN