Three years after the decision to move the government seat to Dodoma and the delivery of its master plan, real work on the capital began in 1976.
The plan as mentioned earlier was to deliver a well planned city that was befitting for the nation’s aspirations.
The set up work had by 1976 consumed some Sh43 million in the establishment and equipping of the CDA.
Work as some insiders say had started on the wrong footing; this was at a time when Tanzania’s economy which was once buoyant had showing signs of slowing down.
“When the decision to move the capital was made, the Tanzanian economy was strong and there was a bright future for both Tanzanian exports and the development of local industrial capacity,” says Sir George Kahama in his biography.
Many developed countries at the time were experiencing a recession which was mainly due to the rise of global oil prices in 1974-75 and Tanzania was not spared as significant inflation hit.
The global complications were further exacerbated by local factors especially the drought of 1974 which caused long term disruptions to the Agricultural sector as well as acute short term
Apart from this, the unconcealed opposition of the project by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) severely weakened the country’s already unstable economy.
Two years later the expenses of the 1978 Kagera war which was instigated by Idi Amin’s regime in Uganda was added to the list of issues that Tanzania had to contend with.
One thing at this point was obvious, the CDA had to effect the Dodoma plan against a deteriorating economy, rising inflation and above all growing external hostility.
The plan for Dodoma had been costed at Sh3.71 billion over 10 years and to achieve the same outcome in the conditions of late 1970s and early 1980s would have required a significant boost from state coffers.
It was obvious that the Director General was now faced with the challenge of how to adjust the project to the changed national circumstances, yet achieve the same results.
Initially it was promised that government would allocate 10 percent of the national budget to the Dodoma project but this never happened.
“During the 10 years between 1976 and 1980, the CDA requested Sh4.29 billion but was only allocated Sh1.78 billion (equivalent to only 41 percent).”
The authority had remained prudent and restrained in its request to the government and no wonder that the actual situation was rather extreme than what the figures suggest.
According to Moses Kagya who was part of CDA team only 10 percent of the funds necessary for the project was released during the time when Sir George was at the helm of CDA.
“The shortage of funding did not only delay the project but it also disrupted the carefully timed and coordinated sequence of other developments within the overall project,” writes Sir George.
Besides the funding crisis some observers believed that the CDA had invested in infrastructure and resources that were either lying idle or operating at half capacity.
The project also faced political problems and its management was quite often questioned in parliament or Cabinet.
One thing that never changed even as the dream faced one storm after another was Sir George’s faith and determination to deliver the desired results.
He realized that the project would take much longer than expected and that priorities had to be established.
“We decided to avoid the easier and the seemingly correct political route of putting up buildings without adequate infrastructure, simply to provide accommodation for government and its employees.”
Although President Nyerere recognized the difficulties facing the project, he never lost his vision for the new capital.
According to Sir George he was constantly supportive both on the board of directors and the cabinet.
To demonstrate this, in 1980, he appointed Sir George as Minister of State in the President’s Office in charge of the CDA on top of his position as the DG of the authority.
This gave him overall political as well as managerial responsibility of the project.
(To be continued as we look at why foreign powers were opposed to the project)