Buildings fall empty, but...

Dar es Salaam. The number of unoccupied buildings in Dar es Salaam is increasing as government functions are moved to the nation’s new capital Dodoma.

Experts say, however, that the shift should nonetheless give real estate developers new business opportunities.

So far, the Vice President’s and Prime Minister’s Offices – as well as almost all ministries and senior government officials – have shifted to Dodoma where they have set up permanent offices and residences in the capital, recently upgraded to city status by President John Magufuli.

However, the relocation is already having some negative outcomes on the real estate business, with some buildings in the nation’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam being left unoccupied. Some real estate developers are already complaining that they are unable to find buyers for their housing projects.

The chief executive officer of the Watumishi Housing Company, Dr Fred Msemwa, said recently that 50 per cent of the company’s units in the Sh18 billion Gezaulole housing project in Dar es Salaam had attracted buyers to begin with. But most of the customers changed mind after they were transferred to Dodoma.

Against this background, experts are of the view that unoccupied buildings in Dar es Salaam could still be good business if they are to be turned into residential facilities.

Those who spoke to The Citizen last week during the launch of a mortgage market training session for bankers said that, with such a high demand for residential premises in the Dar es Salaam metropolis of some 5.5 million people, it only requires the right strategic changes here and there to make brisk business out of the city’s vacated buildings.

“Moving to Dodoma is an opportunity for Dar es Salaam residents,” the chief executive officer of the Tanzania Mortgage Refinance Company, Mr Oscar Mgaya, said.

“If the government and other real estate developers pull their eyes out of the sand (where they have buried their heads like ostriches), those empty buildings will generate income. They only need to be turned into residential houses which people can buy or rent.”

Mr Mgaya further said that those living in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam have always had the desire to live within the central business district. But it has been difficult to find such places since many of the buildings were occupied by governmental officials.

“Business dynamics change according to time and situation. Developers should change their business plans and eye residential needs as a new opportunity,” he explained.

Turning the buildings in Dar es Salaam into residential premises will increase the availability of such facilities in the commercial city, and may also bring prices down.

“The population of Dar es Salaam remains big, and the demand for residential premises is also high. This is why rental charges are also high. This is the gap that can be filled in with the newly unoccupied premises,” said the executive director of the Tanzania Institute of Bankers, Mr Patrick Mususa.

He said office buildings could also be turned into other forms of businesses like hotels, hostels and lodges.