Bunge: Kigamboni city project is a failure

Dodoma. The government has been advised to abandon its plan for the Kigamboni city project because it has failed to implement it.

The Parliamentary Committee on Lands, Natural Resources and Tourism as well as the Opposition Camp said after eight years of inactivity the government had proved that it had no intention of undertaking the project.

To further show that the project is not at heart of the government, in the 2016/17 budget which was tabled yesterday by the minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Development. Mr William Lukuvi, no single cent has been allocated to the project for development.

“The committee visited offices of the Kigamboni Development Agency or KDA and realised that nothing was going on. The project has not been implemented and there is no indication that the government is intending to carry it out. KDA was formed to manage the project which was set to be undertaken in three phases.

“The committee advises the government to acknowledge that it has failed to undertake the project and should abandon it altogether,” said the committee chairman, Mr Atashasta Nditiye (Muhambwe – CCM).

Mr Nditiye noted that though the government had resolved misunderstandings with Kigamboni residents over the investment, nothing had been done for the last eight years.

Shadow minister Wilfred Lwakatare (Bukoba Urban – Chadema) said there was no point of clinging to a project which the government had not shown desire to implement.

“The fact that KDA has not been allocated funds for development activities mean that in the next one year officers are going to be paid without doing any work,” he said.

Dr Mary Mwanjelwa (Special Seats – CCM) said since the Kigamboni project had failed to take off there was no need for the government to continue with it.

She noted that it would be better if the project is abandoned and the land be returned to Kigamboni residents for other uses.

However, Mr Lukuvi was upbeat, noting that the government was determined to start the project in the next financial year.

In his budget speech, Mr Lukuvi noted that as of last April the ministry had reviewed the project’s master plan, identified area for main roads with a length of 71km to start the process of evaluating the cost of compensation.

“We have also prepared a master plan for industrial area at Vijibweni. In 2016/17, the ministry will continue with preparation of a master plan for land use in all project area,” he said.

He said the government intention was to finalise the work for the KDA so as to start looking for potential investors for developing the area.

“The completion of Nyerere Bridget across Indian Ocean provides an immense opportunity for modern investment in factories, business, tourism and residential houses in Kigamboni,” he said.

He noted that in utilising the opportunities, the ministry through KDA, would involve the private sector in developing the area though the public-private partnership model.

Meanwhile, Mr Lukuvi told Parliament that the government was finalising the drafting of a bill on the establishment of a real estate regulator.

He said the bill the law would be tabled in Parliament in the next financial year. 

He told MPs that among other things, the envisaged law would seek to oversee investment in the sector, administer tenants’ rights, increase government revenue, control quality of buildings and its related services.

He informed Parliament that the Housing Microfinance Fund, which is being coordinated by the Bank of Tanzania, has started operations after receiving additional capital of Sh18 million in 2015.

DCB Commercial Bank Plc has been given Sh5 billion capital for issuing soft housing microloans, said Mr Lukuvi urging other banks to also establish mortgage and housing financing arms to enable as many people get decent houses.

In the meantime, the government has repossessed seven former sisal estates in Kikwetu in Lindi Region.

This is part of its drive to repossess all abandoned estates and other large chunks of land which were given to investors.

He noted that 11,845 acres of Kikwetu farms had been given to the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation for the construction of a liquefied natural gas plant.

He also said title deeds of 26 farms in Monduli, Muheza, Mafia and Mvomero districts had been revoked. “Likewise, title deeds of 248 plots in various councils have been revoked and processes to allocate them to new people are underway,” he said.

However, Mr Lukuvi reminded the councils to follow all required procedures in revoking the title deeds and repossessing the land.

He told Parliament that the Lands ministry would continue with the programme with aim of ensuring that land is taken from hoarders and hand it over to landless villagers.