Air Tanzania Company Limited Aircraft is Impounded in Netherlands
A Ryanair plane flies in the sky after taking off from Budapest Airport, in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, June 12, 2022.
The aircraft was seized in relation to compensation that a Swedish firm won in a Dutch court over Tanzania’s suspension of the Bagamoyo sugar project in 2016.An Air Tanzania aircraft was seized in the Netherlands on Thursday in accordance with a Swedish firm’s tribunal plea. The Swedish firm won $165 million in compensation from Tanzania over the African country’s move to revoke a land title in 2016 in the multibillion-dollar sugar project in Bagamoyo.The project in Bagamoyo was for the construction of a bioelectricity plant to switch between sugar and ethanol production based on market demand. However, in June 2016, the Tanzanian government ruled that the approval of the land transfer to the energy company was made regardless of a warning that the land belonged to the Saadani National Park, and was thus protected.The revocation of the land was a significant blow for the Swedish company, which had been working on the project for over ten years and had invested $52 million.
AfricaAir Tanzania’s Airbus A220 Planes Grounded Due to Issues With Engines as Spare Parts Scarce20 November, 15:13 GMTAs a result, the Swedish company successfully applied to the Dutch court for permission to seize the aircraft.Tanzanian Justice Minister Eliezer Feleshi confirmed the aircraft seizure, calling it unlawful. Feleshi pointed out that it was conducted a day after the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) issued a stay of execution order.He also stated that the African country’s government has already filed an appeal against the Dutch court’s decision, arguing that it has enough assets to pay the money compensation instead.The Dutch court’s judge commented on the decision, arguing that the ICSID’s provisional stay of the compensation execution only took effect on the date the institution registered the state’s annulment request.
