Dodoma — THE Ministry of Industry and Trade has supported efforts by the Arusha-based General Tyre Factory to resume production.

Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Gregory Teu said that existence of the factory was of high importance to the industrial sector in the country. The factory is under the management of National Development Corporation (NDC).

Last week, NDC, through its Corporate Affairs Manager, Mr Abel Ngapemba, said that investors from China, Malaysia and South Africa have shown interest in investing in the project.

Mr Teu, who was responding to a question floated in the House by Ms Catherine Magige (Special seats-CCM), said that the government has consented to the factory's operations to be left under the management of NDC.

Ms Magige sought to know when the government was going to reopen the company after being idle for some time now.

The deputy minister said that government's efforts in reviving the factory were being thwarted by financial constraints and unwillingness of foreign investors to inject their capital in it.

Mr Teu said that his ministry and NDC had embarked on strategic plans to ensure that the factory is revived in the 2012/2013 financial year. "We had already allocated enough funds to effect repairs and other rehabilitation works. It is the ministry's hope that the factory is going to be immediately revived," Mr Teu told the House.

The MP further showed concern over the possibility of the government being sued if the factory's investor is changed. However, Mr Teu said that the state was the primary stakeholder with the final say in its operation. He expressed hope that the factory's revitalization would help cut back youth unemployment.