Arusha City

An ambitious project of constructing a satellite town in the remote location of Ilakilak Ward in Arusha Rural District Council has officially been shelved.

The proposed new city was to be known as “Arusha DC Safari Town”  and was ideally meant to ease congestion in the streets of Arusha town which, due to lack of space, can no longer be expanded. The Arusha Rural District Council Director, Mr Khalifa Hida has admitted that the project will no longer take off.

Construction works for the new satellite town was to start in earnest at the end of last year, but due to some misunderstandings, the plans were pushed forward. However, more controversies continued to hound the project prompting the authorities to bury the whole thing.

Among the problems surrounding the project was lack of proper planning for road networks, water supply and the fact that some people complained of having paid for plots but failed to get them. The Arusha Regional Commissioner’s office has issued a statement to the effect that the 430 acres of land, which was earmarked for the proposed town will now be used to construct buildings for the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The ACHPR Court, which is an organ of the African Union (AU), is currently operating from the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) buildings in the Urundini Majengo area of Arusha, along Dodoma road. Mr Hida revealed here that the ARDC had purchased the 430 acres for the proposed new city from the Valhala Estate at the cost of 8.6bn/- in total, a figure which it can be broken down to 20m/- per acre.

The new Arusha DC Safari city was initially expected to be completed on the 30th of September 2013 after a speedy, non-stop construction. All residential houses within the proposed city were to be built by the council and sold off to interested people under mortgage and loaning schemes.

A firm known as Arusha District Council Trust Company (ADCTC) was to be formed to undertake all the tasks involved in forming the new urban settlement. The Tanzania Investment Bank (TIB), on the other hand, was expected to issue the 8.6bn/-loan to enable the council clear the land purchasing bill, ready for the ambitious project.

The CRDB Bank was also expected to fund the proposed city building project with another loan package. The council has approved the expenditure of 170m/- from its coffers for the purchase of two vehicles for the project.

By MARC NKWAME, Tanzania Daily News

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