LOCAL authorities should make ownership of the five-year national development plan as a country aspiration and translate it into their annual plans, a national conference heard yesterday.

The deputy minister for finance and economic affairs, Ms Saada Salum, while addressing a national conference organized by Economic and Social Research Bureau with the theme, "Unleashing growth potentials in Tanzania," said there is need for local ownership and appreciation of the development plan.

"It is everyone's role to own the national development agenda and execute responsibilities even at a personal level," she said. She went on to say that there is a comprehensive programme that has been put together to scale down the challenges facing wananchi, in the 2012/2013 budget.

The deputy minister added that there is need to increase productivity, chart out ways of translating the celebrated economic growth figure into peoples' lives.

Echoing the same sentiments, the Executive Director for REPOA, Dr Sammuel Wangwe said that every region or district should translate the national five-year plan into their plans.

The government early last year launched a five-year development plan (2011/12 to 2015/16) that is aimed at boosting the economy to grow from 8 per cent to 10 per cent annually, with priority areas being generation of adequate electricity and water supply, among other social services; boosting agriculture and agro-processing; infrastructure improvement such as railways, roads network, ports, aviation and marine transportation; tourism and ICT.

It took into account overall national development goals and policy objectives; sectoral initiatives, the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty, MKUKUTA II, the key benchmarks of Long Term Perspective Plan (2011/12-2025/26), as well as findings of the Review of Vision 2025.

Sharing experiences on how China managed to cut absolute poverty through policies that promote inclusive growth and development, the Director General of International Poverty Reduction Centre in China, Dr Huang Chengwe, said all policies should be aimed at achieving the wellbeing of the people.

Dr Chengwe said there was need to attract investments to the currently weaker industries, raise tax threshold and formulate revitalization plans. He also pointed at the need to expand coverage of public finance in agriculture sector and increase the supply of goods to rural areas.

The Director of Economic Research and Policy at Bank of Tanzania, Dr Joseph Masawe said that despite the socio-economic progress recorded so far in the country, it is estimated that 700,000 Tanzanians join the labour market each year, out of which the public sector only absorbs 40,000 to 50,000.

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Tanzania: Engross National Development Plan, Local Authorities Urged