General Tyre Tanzania Plant at a ‘Crossroads’

The fate of General Tyre Tazania is still hanging in the balance, having closed in April last year. Local newspapers are reports that the government is not likely to bail it out unless the last investor, Continental Tyres, accounts “for the $10 million it was advanced in 2002 to revive production.”

General Tyre, which was once the largest industrial plant in the city of Arusha, started production of tyres in 1971. At its peak it was making 1,000 tyres a day, according to former employees. Workers told reports that onsite machinery is outdated. They accused the Government for having failed to ‘protect’ the factory which, they said, produced good quality tyres in the region, from competition from cheap and sub-standard tyres from overseas.