UNPLANNED settlements in the five cities of Tanzania -- Tanga, Arusha, Mwanza, Mbeya and Dar es Salaam -- will be reduced from the current 64 per cent to 50 by the year 2020.
That is according to the new urban
planning strategy as rolled out by city and municipal mayors, municipal
directors and other local government executives representing urban
centres in the country, who are gathering in Arusha under their annual
Tanzania Cities Network (TACINE) Conference.
TACINE Chairperson, Temeke (Dar es
Salaam) Mayor Mr Abdallah Chaurembo was of the view that the increasing
pace of unplanned settlements that plague community service delivery,
sanitation and rescue was among the myriad of problems affecting major
urban centres in the country.
The TACINE meet was officially opened by
the Arusha Regional Commissioner, Mr Daudi Felix Ntibenda, who revealed
plans to make all urban centres in the country, especially in the five
cities, self-reliant by the average of 60pc from the current 27pc.
The senior urban authority officials are
also expected to use the meeting to plan and endorse their budget for
the next five years as well as setting a strategic development agenda
within the same period.
They further intend to improve garbage
collection and disposal to over 87pc, from the current 51pc, while also
ensuring that more than 22pc of households in urban centres are
connected to drainage and sewerage draining network systems.
The mayors’ meeting is taking place
shortly after Members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA),
who recently held sessions here directed the Council of Ministers from
Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and South Sudan to develop a
regional urban planning policy for the bloc to have better coordinated
cities and cross-border towns as well as putting in place remedial
measures to disasters.
The resolution, moved by Ms Nancy Abisai
(Kenya) wanted the council to establish an Urban Development Desk at
the EAC to coordinate urban development matters in the region. To
harmonise ideas and have a regional position on Habitat 111 agenda, the
assembly has urged the council, through the EAC Secretariat, to convene a
regional position on habitat matters.
The resolution takes cognisance of the
fact that the scale and pace of urbanisation is opening up unforeseen
possibilities. “Large concentrations of people and goods providing for
increased opportunities for creativity, larger labour markets, and
higher levels of productivity, not to speak of the cultural and
political opportunities associated with urban life is the norm”, a
section of the resolution states.
The resolution supported by the House
also states that urban planning mitigates the impacts of disasters.
Policies and programmes to reduce poverty can not only increase the
productivity of the poor in the region -- but can also raise
consumption, thereby boosting local economic development for the benefit
of all.
It has been established that cities that
are inhospitable to business and that deter investors usually represent
even worse prospects for their poorest residents.
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