Magufuli woos envoys to set base in new capital city Dodoma

Tanzania's President John Magufuli. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By THE CITIZEN

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Summary

• Tanzanian president hands over title deeds to 67 embassies and international organisations.
• Magufuli says he is pleased with the response by the missions that are ready to shift to Dodoma, which is now the official seat of government.
• President Magufuli cited Dodoma's central location, making it more secure and easy to reach other places in the country.

Dar es Salaam.

Tanzanian President John Magufuli wants representatives of foreign embassies and international organisations to move their offices to Dodoma, promising that the government will ensure befitting utilities are established for their comfort.

The president said he was pleased with the response by the missions that were ready to shift to Dodoma, which is now the official seat of government.

“Some (envoys) have whispered to me here that they will speed up plans to settle here in Dodoma,” he said on Monday, as he handed over land allotment certificates to envoys at a televised function in Dodoma.  

The president used a comparative revenue list among key cities to drum up the support for Dodoma, telling the dignitaries that they “deserved to live in a city that was leading in revenue collection.”

He further said the city would be well secured for their safety.

President Magufuli told the envoys he was optimistic over current infrastructural expansion to accommodate a huge influx of people since his administration operationalised the policy to make Dodoma the capital city.   

President Magufuli handed over title deeds to 67 embassies and international organisations.

Countries that received the Lands Certificate of Occupancy include Rwanda, Kuwait, South Africa, Algeria, Japan, Qatar, India, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Mozambique, Egypt, Switzerland, South Korea, Palestine, Namibia, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Canada, United Kingdom, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Zambia, Burundi and Vietnam.

Others are Germany, Indonesia, Uganda, Oman, Netherlands, China, France, Kenya, Yemen, Pakistan, United States of America, United Arabic Emirates, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Angola, Comoro, Cuba, DRC, European Union, Vatican, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Libya, Malawi, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Russia, Saharawi, South Sudan, Spain, Sweden, Syria and Turkey.

The international organisations are the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the World Bank (WB), AfDB, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Central location

President Magufuli cited Dodoma's central location, making it more secure and easy to reach other places in the country.

He noted that that more efforts were being done to improve infrastructure and social services in the city.

He for instance said he had instructed the national roads agency and and the ministry of works and transport to announce a tender for the construction of the Msalato Airport to enable large planes to land in the city.

“We have also written to the African Development Bank (AfDB) requesting $200 million loan for the three kilometre runway project,” he said.

Lands minister William Lukuvi said 62 embassies and five international organisations had each been given over five acres of land located in Ihumwa.

“We are ready to consider application from various countries that will need to increase the size of their plots or who would want to be relocated to other places,” he said.

Foreign Affairs minister Augustine Mahiga said title deeds were yet to be given numbers pending the fulfilment of legal, administrative and budgetary procedures from the respective countries