Songwe may become new region .

DAILY NEWS Reporters in Dodoma

THE government has allocated 12.9bn/- to construct offices and other buildings in newly formed administrative areas, the parliament was told yesterday.

Reacting to a supplementary question by Momba MP, Mr David Silinde (Chadema), the minister also clarified that the government was yet to gazette Songwe as a new region.

“The process to declare Songwe is still underway and once completed the government will issue a notice to that effect,” he explained. “So far, a total of 5.9bn/- has been disbursed through the Tanzania Building Agency (TBA), to put up the buildings,” the Minister of State in President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Governments), Mr George Simbachawene, said.

On the other hand, Momba District Council in Mbeya Region has partnered with the National Housing Corporation (NHC), to construct 20 houses for its employees at a cost of 2.1bn/-.

Deputy Minister in the President Office (Regional Administration and Local Governments), Mr Suleiman Jaffo, said the partnership was made to enable the new district to provide decent housing for its employees.

Mr Jaffo was reacting to a basic question by Mr Silinde, who had complained on the slow pace in construction of houses for workers in new administrative areas.

The Deputy Minster explained that during the fiscal year 2013/2014, the government dished out 250m/- to Momba district council for construction of the District Commissioner’s (DC), house and those of two senior officials.

“In the current financial year the government has allocated 282.7m/- to accomplish the construction work and 200m/- to build offices of the district commissioner, “he stated. He noted further that in 2014/2015 a total of 450m/- was disbursed to construct Momba District Council’s Offices.