The government yesterday embarked on a demolition exercise that will see thousands of houses built on unauthorised land in Dar es Salaam reduced into rubble.
Speaking to reporters in Dar es Salaam, National Environment Management Council (NEMC) Lawyer Manchare Heche said more than 4,000 houses built along or within Msimbazi River will be demolished.
“This is in enforcement of the law that bans encroachment restricted areas,” he said citing the Environmental Management Act, 2004 Cap 191 sections 57(2) that hold: No human activities of a permanent nature or which may, by their nature, likely to compromise or adversely affect conservation and, or the protection of ocean or natural take shorelines, river bank, water dam or reservoir, shall be conducted within sixty metres.
“The demolition does not involve any compensation to victims as they developed the settlements in a restricted area,” he detailed. “It is not safe for citizen to reside in such wetland areas prone to floods and other calamities in turn it costs government huge amounts of money and time to rescue them,” he said.
“The government had initially issued directives to the citizen to move from the wet lands, however none of them adhered to the order, hence we decided to demolish them in respect of the government order,” the official went on to say.
The exercise shall also take place in all areas that the river passes through, including Buguruni and Gongo la Mboto in Dar es Salaam and later on it will be conducted countrywide as per the standing government order to NEMC.
The lawyer said the exercise will be conducted country wide and so any citizen who resides along the river should leave immediately before he/she is evicted.
For his part, Dr Charles Mkalawa City Planning officer in the Ministry of land, housing and human settlement said the exercise is legal and is conducted on grounds that it is obeying a government order.
“So far we have not stated the actual number of days that the exercise will take but we have targeted to demolish more than 4,700 in Dar city,” he said.
Fatuma Iddi, a victim of the demolition lamented; “we were not notified before about the demolition so that we can prepare ourselves...we have no money to construct houses at Mabwepande where the government told us to move.”
Fatuma asked for aid from private institutions to support them with loans for the construction of their houses.
Another victim Rashid Hassan said they did not reject the government order to leave the wetland but they simply lack fund to build in another place.
“We recommend that the government looks into the possibility of helping us construct houses with the support of the social security funds,” Hassan said.
In May this year, retired President Jakaya Kikwete ordered resident living in all flood prone areas to vacate with immediate effect for their own safety and to relocate to the government designated areas.
President Kikwete said all structures, residential or otherwise, in all flood prone areas in Dar es Salaam will be demolished.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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