THE North Mara Gold Mine (NMG) has invested more than 1 billion Tanzanian shillings over the past few years for the rehabilitation of key roads in Tarime district.
NMG, which is owned by African Barrick Gold (ABG), recently provided 600 million shillings to the Tarime District Council for the rehabilitation of the old German road in the area.
The 45-kilometre road links thousands of villagers in the district to the Mwanza-Sirari tarmac highway. The road is an important link between Nyamongo area and Tarime township in Mara region.
The donation made by the mine is a follow-up to a $340,000 investment (approx. 544 million shillings) made by the mine in 2007 for repair works on the same road, according to a statement issued by Barrick.
This brings the total spending made by Barrick on infrastructure projects in the area over the past few years to more than 1 billion shillings.
The mine also recently rehabilitated roads at Kewanja, Nyangoto and Matongo villages as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme.
These are among seven villages surrounding the mine where Barrick has been investing in education, water, rural electricity and roads projects to help disadvantaged communities as a good corporate citizen.
Mine officials said the company had decided to give back to the community to assist residents of the geographically isolated villages to improve their standards of living.
The assistance from Barrick has enabled the mine to improve relations with residents of the surrounding villages.
The rehabilitation of the old German road with financial assistance from NMG has made the key infrastructure passable throughout the year.
Mine officials reiterated Barrick's commitment to remain a reliable partner for the government and the people of Tanzania in fostering sustainable socio-economic development in areas where it operates.
Maintenance of the old German road is usually funded by the Tarime District Council, but NMG decided to give a major boost to the council's limited budget for infrastructure development.
NMG has been applying a tri-partite approach by working collaboratively with the government and communities to identify the needs, priorities and concerns of local people and create sustainable community development programs in order to address increased transportation demands and build relationships based on mutual benefit and trust.
Rehabilitation of the old German road in Tarime district is one of such jointly identified priorities.
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