Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has directed the Local Government ministry to fast-track the revival and formation of Dar es Salaam City by 2025.
Tanzania says it will revive the Dar es Salaam City status, four years after late president John Magufuli dissolved its administrative entity to form three autonomous municipal councils.
Dissatisfied with poor performance of the Dar es Salaam City Council, the former leader disbanded its entire setup in February 2021 then upgraded Ilala Municipality into city status.
Magufuli said Dar es Salaam City Council was not performing while spending the taxpayers' money.
“I want to see a single municipality to retain city status. Ilala Municipality can be upgraded to attain such a status. It has the qualities because it is located at the centre of Dar es Salaam City,” he said then.
He argued that dissolution of the Dar es Salaam City Council would ensure better expenditure of the taxpayers' money, including the useless spend to pay councillors and unproductive officials.
Ilala comprises Dar es Salaam central business district, with most key businesses and administrative offices located there, retaining the earlier boundaries of the former German and British colonial administration map before Tanzania gained independence.
Ilala Municipality is the oldest residential and business area in Tanzania, established nearly 160 years ago when the city of Dar es Salaam was started by the Zanzibar sultan, whose jurisdiction included present-day coastal strips of Kenya and Tanzania.
The past boundaries of Dar es Salaam City were confined in Ilala district before the new ones were set in 1961.
“We want to ensure that Dar es Salaam city retains its status then competes with other cities in the world in attracting foreign tourists, business investors and other visitors landing there before heading to other places in Tanzania,” said Mohamed Mchengerwa, Minister of State in the President’s Office responsible for Local Government and Regional Administration, said earlier this week.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan has directed the Local Government ministry to fast-track the revival and formation of Dar es Salaam City by 2025.
Mr Mchengerwa said that the government wanted to speed up development of key services. But it could cost money.
The minister said that the government was looking for investors to transform the Msimbazi River Valley in Dar es Salaam into a metropolitan city through construction of residential and commercial buildings.
Dar has a population of 5.4 million people, making it the most populated area in Tanzania, according to the 2022 National Population and Housing Census.
It has 26 councillors from five municipalities, five mayors and five Members of Parliament, all elected in the 2020 General Election.
