The Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology is looking for 246bn/- that will be spent in the construction of communication towers to over 200 villages countrywide.

The move follows the government being unhappy with the flow of funds from the Word Bank to the Universal Communication Services Access Fund (UCSAF) which is basically tasked to raise funds to ensure telecommunications reaches as many major parts of the country as possible.

The Ministry's Deputy Minister, Mr January Makamba, told the House yesterday that the government was saddened by bureaucracy in releasing funds to the UCSAF forcing it to intervene and that already talks with India to dish out the funds through the Ministry of Finance are at a good stage.

"If we get these funds, we will then be able to connect all areas that almost many Members of Parliament have been requesting to be connected with telecommunications services," he said.

Minister Makamba was answering to a question posed by Mr Abdul Jabir Marombwa (Kibiti-CCM), who wanted to know when areas along River Rufiji Delta, Mchukwi, Dimani and Mwamba wards will be connected despite some of telecommunication companies promising to connect the services long time back.

The Deputy Minister said his Ministry was keeping on reminding all telecommunication companies to keep their promises and make sure they connect services to areas they once promised to connect.

He said the wards mentioned by MP Marombwa will be involved in the second phase of the World Bank project whose tender will be announced and its implementation start within this financial year.