The Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements, Prof Anna Tibaijuka has advised the Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOS) to invest in real estate as the business’s value and profits keep growing.
Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development Prof Anna Tibaijuka
Addressing the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) Saccos annual general meeting in Dar es Salaam over the weekend, Prof Tibaijuka, said the saccos should also provide its members with mortgage loans.
“The interest rate for loans should be affordable so that every member should benefit,” she said. Earlier, Tanesco Saccos Board Chairperson, Ms Somoe Nguhwe, said the saccos has acquired a plot to build an investment centre in Kibaha District, Coast Region, saying the investment centre will help to increase saccos’s income. “We have already employed a contractor, Meadan and Dean Limited to erect a wall and carry out the construction,” she said.
Ms Nguhwe said the amount of savings has increased by 22 per cent between December 2011 and December 2012 and that the amount has increased from 9.9bn/- to 12bn/-.
“The amount of savings has increased because the number of members rose from 3,956 in December 2011 to 4,195 in December 2012 which is equivalent to 6.04 per cent,” she said.
However, she said the saccos was facing some challenges including land dispute with other developers on its plot located at Tandamti Street, saying the case on land dispute has taken many years. “The amount of shares has also decreased from 39bn/- to 38bn/- for the past one year which is equivalent to 1.73 per cent decline,” she said.
By LUDOVICK KAZOKA, Tanzania Daily News
