Metropolitan residents of the Dar es Salaam City on the western rim shores of the Indian Ocean have been assured of more and befitting resting places. Thanks to the Ilala Municipality beautification programme on hand.
Ilala Municipal Environment Officer, Esther Masomhe, revealed this when responding to various comments raised during a discussion organized by the Kilimanjaro Dialogue Institute (KDI) in Dares Salaam to mark the World Environment Day.
“We have a city beautification programme in place with set priorities. We’re already establishing a garden in Samora Avenue near the Sheriff Grave and will move on to Mchafukoge area besides face lifting a second garden at Mnazi Mmoja. Our aim is to provide city residents with better resting places, she said.”
The participants, including the chairman, Alhaj Habib Miradji, the KDI Secretary General, Hassan Mzighani, and members of the press, raised concerns about the city environment touching on issues like urban slums, lack of beautiful gardens and drainage.
Concerning theme of “Environment Conservation as a Pillar for Industrial Development”, she said Ilala was a leader in Tanzania’s industrial establishment. But it still faced challenges, citing effluents which drain into valleys where vegetables are grown leading to health hazards for the people.
“The laws are clear. We will ensure that every factory being built in our municipality follows the laid down environmental regulations to the letter,” she said.
Miradji, who is also a KDI trustee, had wondered if the Municipality had any strategic environment conservation programmes for addressing pertinent issues like congestion in urban slums, where one could find families with ten or more members.
Masomhe confirmed the existence of conservation strategies including the building of awareness through school environment clubs and outreach programmes mounted by municipal health officers.
KDI Secretary General Hassan regretted how the municipality was failing in sewage and storm water management. He cited “a country like Norway, which gets very much rain, yet it is not easy to find roads or residential areas engulfed in water.”
