14th January 2016

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The Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority (Dawasa) said the
demolition work will be continuous to ensure that all areas reserved for
the construction of water infrastructures were used for the purposes
intended .
Speaking in an interview with The Guardian yesterday, the
authority’s acting Public Relations Manager, Mecktridis Mdaku, said
close to 268 structures built on the water pipeline spanning from Upper
Ruvu in Coast Region to the Kimara water storage tanks will be pulled
down, noting that the firm would pay no compensation to the intruders.
She said the demolition work will be done by the authority in
collaboration with the Kinondoni District Council in Dar es Salaam and
Kibaha District Council in Coast Region.
Mdaku said a substantial number of people have constructed houses
and business structures on the water pipeline, adding that such
structures were illegal besides the fact that the owners endanger their
lives and safety of the water infrastructures.
“People who have built structures, are conducting agricultural
activities near the old water pipeline are required to leave seven
metres on either side free of any human activity,” she explaimed.
Mdaku further said that the operation to clear the way is meant to
ensure that the pipeline path remain open and also allows the laying of
three new water pipelines to pass through the path of the old water
pipelines which have 34 and 36 inches respectively.
“After the demolition of the structures, the authority will put in
place beacons to ensure that people don’t invade the areas again …
local governments will also have the responsibility to ensure that such
areas reserved for the water infrastructures are not overrun again,” she
insisted.
She said that a similar work was conducted last year to clear the
way leave from Lower Ruvu in Bagamoyo to the water storage tanks at the
University of Dar es Salaam.
Mdaku further explained that the clearance operation would also
allow easy passage by water engineers during maintenance and future
expansions.
“The reserved areas are crucial especially for expansion purposes
because as we lay the new pipelines, we would need to compensate the
nearby land occupants so as to pave a way for the project,” she
elaborated.
Already some of the structure owners have started responding to the
authority’s call by removing their property while others have started
to demolish the structures by themselves, Mdaku said.
Some structures along Bagomoyo Road were demolished to pave the way
for the 54-km-long water pipeline stretching from the old slave town to
the commercial city.
However the work has not been all that smooth as some owners were
protesting to vacate their premises, saying they occupied the land
legally.
Members of the security committee in Kinondoni District have urged the water body to address complaints of the property owners.
The project, which commenced in 2012 and was expected to be
completed in 15 months, was delayed pending compensation to a number of
residents affected by the project.
The project has so far attracted 17 cases at the Kinondoni Land
Council and the High Court (Land) Division challenging the decision by
Dawasa to implement the project.
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