THE first draft of the National Development Vision 2050 will be brought to public awareness on December 11 this year in Unguja where the President of Zanzibar Dr. Hussein Ali Mwinyi is expected to grace the event.

Addressing journalist yesterday in Dar es Salaam about the steps reached in the preparation of the vision, the Minister of State in the President’s Office, Planning and Investment, Prof Kitila Mkumbo said as of October this year, a total of 1.17 million citizens and development stakeholders have shared their opinion through various ways.

He said that 15,483 of the comments were based on surveys at the household level; 1.11 million were collected through Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD); 13,459 through the website; 12 conferences attended by 22,779 people; specific and detailed interviews with 44 various leaders including those in power and retirees.

Other methods involved 220 meetings and seminars and 33 documents collected.

"Other steps involved learning from various countries that have made great strides in development from the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe and America," he said.

Prof Mkumbo said that the views of citizens and stakeholders focused on four major areas: Evaluation of the implementation of the National Development Vision 2025 based on the areas of success and the challenges that have arisen; current state of the country; expectations and aspirations towards 2050; and priorities to be considered.

He said the desires and expectations of citizens and stakeholders in the vision that is being prepared are divided into five areas: A stable, prosperous economy that improves their lives; better community services (education and health); good governance, justice, protection and security. Others are the development of technology and innovation and the protection and sustainable use of national resources.

Citizens and stakeholders mentioned five sectors to be considered as national priorities towards the year 2050: Agriculture; industrial production; infrastructure; better community services; and minerals, oil and gas.

"The launch of the Vision 2050 draft will go hand in hand with the launch of the second phase of gathering stakeholders' opinions. This phase will be about the opinions of the validation of Vision 2050;

The collection of opinions and validation will be concluded on January 18, next year for the Prime Minister to receive the second draft," said Prof Mkumbo.

Between January and March 2025, the Vision 2050 draft will be discussed by permanent secretaries, the National Planning Commission and the Cabinet.

Between April and May 2025, the Draft Vision 2050 will be received, discussed and officially approved by the Parliament of the United Republic of Tanzania.

"The preparation of Vision 2050 goes hand in hand with the preparation of the Long-Term Perspective Plan - LTPP which will translate the vision and aspirations contained in Vision 2050," said Prof Mkumbo.

The government in collaboration with various development stakeholders has been implementing the National Development Vision 2025 in implementing short and long term development plans.

Based on the National Planning Commission Act Article 6 (2) (b) President Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan instructed the government to start preparing a new vision for development where the process was launched on April 3, 2023.

The preparation of the new development vision goes through 11 important steps. The government started by preparing and approving various guidelines.

The next step was the vision process which is implemented at three levels, which are the Secretariat under the National Planning Commission, the Central Team of Experts, and the Steering Committee of the Vision under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister.