268 houses for demolition along Morogoro Rd in Dar. | nyula blog

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Thursday, January 14, 2016

268 houses for demolition along Morogoro Rd in Dar.

14th January 2016
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 At least 268 residential and commercial structures built on water infrastructure along Morogoro Road will be bulldozed starting today in an extended operation meant to clear invaded areas.
 
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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