Zanzibar — ZANZIBAR President Dr Hussein Mwinyi on Wednesday reaffirmed his administration's resolve to transform the country into inclusive and sustainable digital economy.
"We are determined to capitalise on digital transformations to pursue blue economy for social and economic development of our people," President Mwinyi told the sixth three-day Information and Technology Communication (ICT) International conference here.
He said water bodies--oceans and lakes--are great treasuries of wealth, which Zanzibar is firm to exploit through ICT whose role in creating jobs and building inclusive and sustainable economies is critical.
Dr Mwinyi challenged African countries to use their endowed marine resources to attain social and economic development goals. "With good management of oceanic resources, ICT can enable African countries to prosper," he said.
Earlier, President Mwinyi launched Bwefum ICT community centre and telecommunication towers, asking the islanders to maintain the multibillion shilling infrastructure for their own social and economic prosperity.
The 147m/- Bwefum centre is one of 11 ICT hubs, in which the union government through the Universal Communication Service Access Fund (UCSAF) has invested a total of 1.2bn/- to construct in all Unguja and Pemba's 11 districts.
Besides the centres, the fund also has subsidised the construction of 42 communication towers with 6.9bn/- in the islands.
President Mwinyi was optimistic that the new infrastructure will address communication woes in the country. "These (telecommunication) towers provide 2G, 3G and 4G services... hopefully complaints over communication problems will end," Dr Mwinyi said at the project site.
He directed Union Minister of Information, Communication and Information Technology Nape Nnauye and his Zanzibar counterpart Dr Khalid Salum Mohamed to explore more areas with communication challenges for immediate fixing, adding: "We have to ensure everybody has access to communication services."
Minister Nape said the goal of the multibillion projects, which started last January, is to speedily transform the country into the digital economy, saying an assessment will be conducted to identify areas, if any, still with communication hitches.
He said the telecommunication service providers have as well invested 2.45bn/- in construction of 14 telecom towers in Unguja and Pemba, noting that nine towers are already operational and five are in their final stages.
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UCSAF also has funded the construction of an emergency call centre at Mwanakwerekwe suburb to boost emergency call services in the islands, Mr Nnauye said.
Dr Khalid said the 42 towers will benefit over 300,000 islanders in 38 Shehias' 80 villages in Unguja and Pemba.
He said the ministry has already surveyed 14 out of the country's 42 islets, with the aim of developing communication infrastructure to attract investors. "The envisaged infrastructure (in the islets) will also benefit other users of the ocean," he said.
UCSAF Executive Director Justina Mashiba said the towers and ICT centres will boost the use of ICT in the country and accelerate social and economic development.
She said the community centres are open for use by students and all Zanzibaris, "The goal is to leave nobody behind in the use of ICT."
