Tanzania: Master Plan to Give Mwanza City a New Look

A new Mwanza look for a long time to come is born after the launch of an ambitious plan or master plan to redevelop the area that is the center of the Great Lakes region.

This is after decades of strategic planning to develop the mountainous area around Lake Victoria with the introduction of a participatory community survey programme in which people from different areas responded by providing partnership that enabled the construction of transport infrastructure in inaccessible areas by cars and motorcycles.

This area with a variety of fish in the lake has many tourist attractions from the center of the city to the top of the mountain where the residence of the first Mwanza District Commissioner for German rule more than 100 years ago called ‘Gunzert’ house is found.

Mwanza city has presence of tree for executing people who were protesting against the German rule while inside the lake there is a wildlife attraction found in Tanzania on Saanane Island which is located just two kilometres southwest of the city.

Lake Victoria, called by the inhabitants ‘nyanza’, was called Lake Victoria by the British after the British Queen Victoria, whose father was edward and his mother Victoria of Saxe.

Lake Victoria is known as the pride of Africa, is the largest tropical lake in the world where it was named Queen Victoria of england in 1850 by Hanning Speke who was one of the first British to see the lake.

The Master Plan of Mwanza Region is a joint venture initiative between Ilemela Municipality and City Council and was welcomed with more enthusiasm by development stakeholders for being key in the development plan for the coming years.

It was on 22 December last year when Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlement through his minister Mr william Lukuvi accompanied by his Deputy Dr Angelina Mabula who is also the Member of Parliament for Ilemela constituency who arrived in the City Council where both councillors of Mwanza city and those from Ilemela municipality came to witness the historic launch event of the program.

Reporting on the process of acquiring the ambitious plan developed by the Tanzanian government in collaboration with Singapore-based contractors, Mr Deogratias Kalimenze, the Director of Housing Development, said the plan was inspired by the start of the 1970 national Development Plan.

Mr Kalimenze said the plan was aimed at ensuring the growth of nine cities which are Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Moshi, Tanga, Mwanza, Morogoro, Mbeya, Mtwara and Tabora where several processes have been underway to achieve these goals and are currently a program of three phases that bore the ambitious plan in Mwanza Region.

The Master Plan for Mwanza Region is for 20 years from 2015 to 2035 with the aim of overseeing the development of the city based on sustainability in the growth of the area.

“After that the plan which was aimed at transforming the nine cities also included Dodoma region which is the capital city of the country in the process,” Mr Kalimenze told the development stakeholders in Mwanza region.

He said the ambitious plan for the process of planning the City of Mwanza and Ilemela Municipality in a sustainable plan for human development and the environment is a plan that will enable the area to withstand the growth of this area for a long time.

Mr Kalimenze said the ambitious plan was aimed at addressing human health, environmental and economic growth for all in the community, as well as the plan would enable the area to have a better long- term settlement and facilitate sustainable conservation of the environment.

He said the nation through its ministry has developed development strategies where it is focused on seeing the importance of having such a program focused on good health issues, economic growth, sustainable environment and access to social services in developing cities.

Launching the initiative recently in Mwanza city, Minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Mr william Lukuvi said the aim of the plan was to address the challenge of arbitrary construction of human settlements and environmental protection.

Mr Lukuvi said that due to the rapid growth of the area at the moment it is also the epicenter of the Great Lakes region which means the need to plan the area is currently important to avoid environmental impacts.

“I want to tell the people of Mwanza that from today the value of your land has gone up and the people should not worry about the plan since it will have an impact on them,” said Mr Lukuvi.

He said from now on all authorities should prevent arbitrary construction that does not comply with the procedure for obtaining building permits from town planning authorities to avoid possible losses by demolishing those buildings that do not comply with building codes.

Mr Lukuvi said the ambitious plan has other implications which include controlling the actions of people who plunder land for others by using dirty tactics.

Mwanza City Urban Planning Officer, Mr Mosses Seleki said the plan has created an environment that will make the area vibrant in all development sectors where it will enable the presence of 45-minute transport infrastructure to work from all areas in the area as the bus program and the speed train is designed for that purpose.

Mr Seleki said that by 2035 all houses in the program will have 100 percent electricity

its population will reach 2,400,000, about 1,500,000 jobs will be created and the annual income of its people will be $4240.

He said downtown areas would expand to reach Mkuyuni, Mabatini, Kona ya Bwiru and Kirumba streets with the need to build 20- storey houses.

However the plan will not affect the landowner who will not be able to build such buildings as the law allows him to find an investor who can enter into a joint venture with him and become part of the ownership of the property and continue to live in his area.

Mwanza Regional Commissioner engineer Robert Gabriel said the acquisition of the infrastructure plan creates employment opportunities for its people and preserves the environment and ecology.

He said the plan was a solution to the poverty of residents as it would open up opportunities for its people to invest through their land resources to the investors who will be interested in joint ventures and at the same time will cut the roots of land disputes for its people.

Mwanza City Lord Mayor, Mr Sima Costantine said that the acquisition of the plan is an opportunity for the people of the area to use it for their rapid development, noting that it is also a good step for the development of a well-planned city.

He said recently there has been an exercise to organize small businesses in specific areas so the acquisition of the plan is a continuation of efforts to make the city more organized.

Mwanza City Director, Mr Sekiete Yahaya said they have welcomed the resolution to build the city in a plan that is sustainable in all aspects of life.

He urged the residents of the area to welcome the initiative which creates a vision or direction for the construction of the area in its city status and noted that the area will continue to be relatively clean.

Mr Yahaya said the plan is a solution to keep the areas smart and well organized for human settlement and removes social service interference which was prevailing before the government decision to rearrange petty traders in special areas.

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