We want restricted areas free of houses: minister
Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Labour, Employment, Youth and People with Disabilities), Jenista Mhagama addresses residents of Buguruni kwa Mnyamani in Dar es Salaam where she inspected the construction of a drainage system yesterday. PHOTO|OMARI FUNGO
What you need to know:
- These include areas that are prone to floods and other natural disasters in and around Dar es Salaam City
- Illegal structures make it difficult to build proper drainage systems in the city. As a result, floods always cause problems. Early this year, floods left at least 38 people dead and another 82 injured in Shinyanga Region. The floods affected some 3,500 people. Many houses were also damaged.
Dar es Salaam. The government has ordered the demolition of all houses built in restricted areas.
These include structures put up in open spaces and flood prone areas, the minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Labour, Employment, Youth and People with Disabilities), Ms Jenista Mhagama, said yesterday.
She said building in restricted areas contributed to the recurrence of floods causing destruction in the city.
“The government has already issued directives that anyone putting up a building in a restricted area must be made to vacate. Why do you hesitate taking appropriate action?” the minister queried.
Kinondoni district commissioner Paul Makonda said he had been making noise about the matter for a long time but municipal officials did nothing it.
The minister also took municipal directors and their engineers to task, ordering them to submit a report on development projects to her office in seven days.
Municipal officials were in hot water as the minister pressed them with questions for which they had no answers.
Ms Mhagama said failure to construct appropriate water drainage systems made it difficult to control rain water, leading to floods.
She issued the orders as she toured Tegeta Basihaya where a two-kilometre drainage system failed to curb floods Tuesday.
The construction of the drainage system had been ordered by former President Jakaya Kikwete.
Another similar structure was ordered for Buguruni kwa Mnyamani in Ilala Municipality. Three hours of rain left over 200 houses under water at Tegeta Basihaya.
The project which cost a total of Sh1.2 billion is said to have been constructed below standards thus rendering it useless.
She directed municipal director Ando Mwankuga to immediately take appropriate disciplinary action against engineers over the matter.
Each year, pounding rains leave many parts of the city in a bad state. Floods sweep away houses and destroy infrastructure, leaving the city at a standstill, and thousands homeless.
