Planners of Tanzania’s Bagamoyo Special Economic Zone need investors for the second phase of the plan, which will transform about 2,000 acres into a modern port, All Africa reported.

Tanzania’s Export Processing Zones Authority has identified special economic areas for investment in 20 regions of Tanzania.

Bagamoyo will be an industrialized modern town providing employment and business opportunities, thus speeding up the country’s economic development.

Plans for phase one are all but complete, with the transformation handled by China through China Merchants Holdings International Ltd. Nearly 2,000 acres will become a modern port, while the remaining 4,200 acres will be reserved for other development projects.

“I call upon anyone interested in investing in industries in those areas not to hesitate to come to our authority,” said Adelhelm Meru, authority director.

Bagamoyo’s second phase, which involves more than 16,000 acres, will be handled by the authority.

Investors are particularly needed for value-added agricultural projects, which have been successful elsewhere in Tanzania. About 55 percent of industries established under the Export Processing Zones Authority deal in agricultural value-addition and textile processing, Meru said.

In January, All Africa reported that Bagamoyo residents were optimistic about the industries that the Special Economic Zone would bring. It replaced many farms that had been left unattended and was expected to improve the local economy.

Residents living on land in the areas to be developed were compensated, Meru said in a recent All Africa report. “We will continue compensating others as the government’s budgets allows.”

Other regions where special economic areas have been developed for investment include Bunda in Mara with approximately 2,700 acres and Kigoma with almost 900 acres.

Founded at the end of the 18th century, Bagamoyo was the original capital of German East Africa and one of the most important trading ports along the East African coast. Today the town has about 30,000 residents and is the capital of the District of Bagamoyo, recently being considered as a world heritage site.