Diplomatist Special Report - Tanzania Tanzania 2018 | Page 19

&A the Economic Crimes Court to deal with corruption. He also urged public services offi ces to implement cost-cutting austerity measures. Notable results in his two years in offi ce include increased monthly revenue collection from TZS 850 Billion to TZS 1.32 Trillion monthly. The President Magufuli is now focusing on fl agship social and economic projects to deliver his promise to improve the lives of Tanzanian people. On education, Tanzanians are now enjoying free education from primary to secondary level. Health budget has been more than doubled. Hospitals like the Heart Institute at the National Hospital in Dar es Salaam can now perform major operations including heart surgery, something that would require Tanzanians to embark on costly foreign trips for the same treatment earlier. Some neighbouring countries are now turning to Tanzania for heart surgery. Under Magufuli, Tanzania has just launched construction of a modern Standard Gauge Railway from Dar es Salaam to the Western part of the country. Two fi rst Lots-Dar to Morogoro and Morogoro to the country’s current political capital, Dodoma, have already been launched and the government will spend over TZS 7 Trillion. The two lots are set to be completed in December 2019. Second, as the two lots are on the roll, Magufuli’s government has already announced a tender for purchase of more than 1,500 different wagons and about 25 electricity and diesel locomotives ready to service passenger and cargo transportation along the new standard gauge railway. With fi rst Moody rating of Tanzania at B1 negative, the highest score in East Africa, the government in partnership with the private sector is set to deliver its industrialisation policy to spur more economic growth. Tanzania’s economic growth of an estimated 7 percent per annum is ranked among Africa’s top 6 fastest growing economies. TANZANIA• 19