Water Deputy Minister Amos Makala (centre), over the weekend in Kimbiji
The government through the Ministry of Water had initially planned to secure 7,320 hectares of land to implement ground water projects at Kimbiji aquifer, one of Africa’s largest underground water basins.
The area has enough ground water to supply wells and springs and aimed at easing shortage of the liquid in Dar es Salaam and nearby areas, particularly Mkuranga District in Coast Region.
The water ministry through Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority (DAWASA) intended to drill boreholes that would pump out more than 400million litres of water daily.
Speaking on behalf of the residents, ward councilor Issa Hemed (CCM) told Water Deputy Minister Amos Makala over the weekend in Kimbiji that they have failed to redevelop their land and have yet to receive the agreed compensation. He said during implementation of the project some portions of land that were earmarked have been left out, but the villagers have failed to regain them legally.
“So far we cannot use the land. We’re happy with the project but we want the government to either compensate us or return the portion of land which is not used so that we can use it,” he insisted.
He told the Deputy Minister that the villagers have been blocked from selling the pieces of land they own with officials in the Land, Housing and Human Settlement Development Ministry reject the proposals on the ground that the area has been reserved for water projects.
“We want documents (similar to those produced when acquiring land) that mandates us to use the land, villagers would appreciate when given directives what to/not to do on the land to protect the precious liquid,” he emphasized.
Reacting before water deputy minister, DAWASA Chief Executive Officer, Archard Mutalemwa admitted to have failed to utilise the entire area. He said they had communicated with the Temeke municipal council to see on how to return the land.
In our final decision, he said: “We agreed not to take the entire area but instituted directives for protection of the area due to its potentiality”.
He explained that the villagers whose areas will be used for construction of water storage tanks and laying down customers’ water distribution networks will be compensated.
Mutalemwa noted that they conducted the first property evaluation whereas it was established that the authority will be subjected to pay the residents a total of 27bn/- as compensation. He said in the second evaluation particularly on land the cost was higher as authority was required to pay 31bn/-.
“The amount required for compensation was too high when compared to the cost of the project”, he said adding that Dawasa only managed to pay compensation to people where the drilling was taking place.
He said that drilling was done at areas measuring 60metres only. Experts said construction of one borehole cost not less than 1bn/-.
Responding to the queries the water deputy minister Amos Makala said the government will later this year issue a statement on its plans for using Kimbiji basin. “In our official statement we will advise Dawasa the best way to handle the issue”, Makala said.
Makala said the ministry’s target is to address the challenge of water access among city residents.
Kigamboni Member of Parliament Dr Faustine Ndungulile commended the government for implementing various initiatives to address shortage of water in the region.
The 92bn/- water project by Turkish Zetas Construction Company will benefit the larger part of Temeke district in Dar es Salaam and more than 13m litres of it will serve Mkuranga district population.
According to Dubai based Zemin Teknolojis AS (ZETAS) Engineer Dr Mohammed Hassan several 600m deep boreholes will be drilled at Mwasunga area in Temeke and that the project is expected to be completed by November this year.
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