Monday, December 8, 2014
Building Arusha: One City’s Journey to Better Urban Services, Access and Quality of Life
ARUSHA, August 12, 2014 – With lush green mountains draped by a spectacular blue sky and simple green spaces, Arusha is known for its natural beauty. Now, thanks to a deliberate campaign to further improve the city’s infrastructure, its allure is further enhanced by improved city streets, access to basic services and a better quality of life for its citizens.
The ongoing infrastructure development in Arusha is being financed through the Tanzania Strategic Cities Project (TSCP), with funding totalling $213 million by the World Bank Group and $6 million from the Danish government. The program, which started two years ago, targets Tanzania’s growing medium-sized cities, including Arusha and six other local government authorities (LGAs): Tanga, Mwanza, Kigoma, Mbeya, Mtwara and Dodoma.
Open Quotes
We have focused on improving the central business district streets. We identified 23 dirt roads in the area, totalling just 7.23km and we paved and equipped them with street lighting, pedestrian walkways, and proper drainage, and the overall effect has been amazing. Close Quotes
Lamsy Afwilile
Engineer for Arusha City Council
Saumu Kassim, a taxi driver, said traffic is much better today thanks to the improved roads.
“Previously, Father Babu and NHC roads were not usable despite their strategic connection to different places in the city,” he said. “Today however, with the roads in good shape, traffic has been freed up everywhere as more cars can now pass through these key routes. The city altogether looks much better and we also see that property value has appreciated in several areas which were once very dusty. It is appropriate now to use our label ‘the Geneva of East Africa.’”
Residents are also relieved with the 800m storm water drainage system which has contained flooding in the city.
“Before its construction, it was dangerous to walk in the rain in this part of the city, but this is now a thing of the past,” said James Mshumbushi, a businessman on Bondeni Street, which was once severely affected by flooding. “More people than before now come to shop in this area as the traffic is less congested.”
As Tanzania continues urbanizing rapidly – with 27% of the population residing in cities in 2012, up from 5.7% in 1967 – it is estimated that there will be more people living in cities than in rural areas by 2030, increasing pressure on already stretched public services. Against this background, the TSCP aims to improve the quality of and access to basic urban services through the building of core infrastructure and the introduction of innovations for improved urban management.
A key innovation has been the integration of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with the Local Government Revenue Collection Information System (LGRCIS). The systems work together to ensure that all properties – commercial, residential and others – are mapped and assessed for their tax revenue potential. Equipped with this information, city authorities will have a clearer picture of the tax earnings needed to finance the services to improve the quality of life and business environment.
“With the GIS mapping, we have been able to define the commercial buildings in the whole of Arusha,” said Daniel Mruma, the quality assurance team leader for the GIS unit of the City Council. “These are the ones that can generate more revenues for the council, rather than residential buildings.”
Full completion of the GIS mapping and evaluation is underway, but several areas have been entered into the LGRCIS system and have been invoiced since December 2013. Once the taxes are paid and a receipt is issued to a proprietor, the electronic revenue collection system automatically changes the code in the computer to show compliance. LGRCIS replaces the old paper and cash-based systems with a more transparent and convenient means of payment. Soon, residents and businesses will be able to pay on-line or through mobile banking.
“Supporting cities’ efforts to collect their own source revenues using technology is part of our overall efforts to improve financial sustainability of urbanization in the long run,” said Mehmet Onur Ozlu, senior urban specialist and task team leader for the TSCP. “Arusha’s successful launch of LGRCIS is an example of how this can be done with tangible results.”
An operational LGRCIS system has also meant the city is in a better position to keep up with the expectations of the residents who are enjoying the benefits from the upgraded infrastructure. Not only have the new roads drastically reduced traffic congestion and provided motorists with better alternative routes, they are also making it easier to collect taxes as happier residents have become more welcoming of the taxman.
“Our experience has been that people always try to avoid paying taxes, but what we have seen here is what has also been documented in studies; tangible developments compel citizens to pay their taxes,” said Bruno Mlacha, revenue accountant for the city council. “The new roads, which are of exceptional quality, have been a great incentive for them to pay up. Whenever we announce that we are visiting an area to check on tax compliance, we find that people from different locations come to our offices on their own volition before we even visit their area. Some call you and say, ‘can you come and pick up your cheque?”
The numbers support Mlacha’s account. In the three months between December 2013 and February 2014, the city collected Sh174.5 million, nearly double the amount (Sh89 million) collected in the five months before the LGRCIS became operational.
“The computerization has made the tax system more transparent and credible for payers and it gives them confidence that they are paying for something genuine as opposed to concocted,” Mlacha added.
The city’s overall revenue outlook looks promising. The city has already generated Sh2.7 billion in property taxes, services levies, hotel levies, business licenses and billboards – nearly double – in just the first three months of the new LGCRIS system. These figures are expected to grow once the property evaluation process is completed and more taxpaying units are harnessed under the new system.
“The new revenue enhancement and urban management systems developed in Arusha and the other TSCP cities are best practice – we already see a lot of interest from cities around the world in the work being carried out in Tanzania,” said Andre Bald, World Bank senior urban specialist. “And not only is the new technology improving revenue collection – LGRCIS is a powerful tool to support municipalities with their planning, land management, and operations and maintenance roles.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Well, I said before: Roads are major killers in Tanzania
WHO report highlights Tanzania`s `deadly` roads
Tanzania Police Force Traffic Commander, SACP James Kombe
THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam
TANZANIA is now officially ranked among countries with the world’s deadliest roads, prompting United Nations health chiefs to urge the government to tighten road safety laws.
The Global Status Report on Road Safety, released on Monday by the World Health Organisation (WHO), shows that road users in Tanzania are more likely to be killed than in many other countries.
According to the new report, the number of vulnerable road users being killed in the country is worryingly high, with pedestrians constituting 37 per cent of casualties.
Deaths by road user category in the country include motor vehicle passengers (33 per cent), cyclists (17 per cent), motorbike/bajaj riders (7 per cent) and motor vehicle drivers (6 per cent).
The report reveals that 34.3 for every 100,000 people were killed on roads in Tanzania during 2007, a dismal record compared to neighbouring countries such as Uganda, Burundi, Malawi, Zambia, and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Kenya has a slightly higher death toll from road accidents compared to Tanzania, at 34.4 people killed per 100,000.
According to the report, a staggering 2,595 deaths were reported on roads in Tanzania in 2007 alone, with men making up 78 per cent of the casualties and women, 22 per cent.
Compared with the United Kingdom which has a 5.4 per 100,000 population road death rate, this means that people are over six times more likely to die on Tanzanian roads than in the UK.
With the global average of 18.8 road deaths per 100,000 people, Tanzania has one of the highest death tolls in the world.
’’It is a dangerous place to be on the roads, either as a pedestrian or a driver, and there needs to be more focus on vulnerable road users,’’ says the WHO report.
WHO Director General Dr Margaret Chan said the poor road safety record of Tanzania and many of its neighbours ’’deserves our highest attention’’, and called on officials to take action.
The report notes that laws on seat belts, drink driving, speed limits, and mandatory motorcycle helmets are not stringent enough in the country, and enforcement is lax.
It reveals for instance that the seat-belt law in Tanzania does not uniformly apply to all motor vehicle occupants.
According to available data cleared by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare for the purposes of the WHO research, hardly 30 per cent of drivers and front-seat passengers obey the seat-belt law and wear the devices - while just 5 per cent of rear-seat passengers do the same.
The 287-page global report notes with concern that Tanzania lacks a child restraint law, which effectively renders its enforcement of road safety regulations for children virtually non-applicable.
Some 57 per cent of the 577,949 vehicles registered in the country by 2007 were mini-buses, vans and other motor vehicles with seating capacities in the 20-passengers range.
Other vehicle categories registered in Tanzania are motor cars (14 per cent), motorbikes/bajaj scooters (9 per cent), trucks (7 per cent), buses (4 per cent) and others of the like (9 per cent).
Police recorded 16,308 non-fatal accidents in 2007, with the trend in road deaths showing a steady increase since 2000.
Only a small number of African countries studied in the report, which covers a total of 178 nations and more than 98 per cent of the world population, have a worse road deaths record than Tanzania, according to the WHO report.
These include Angola (37.7 deaths per 100,000 people), Libya (40.5), Egypt (47.5), and Eritrea (48.4).
Botswana has one of Africa’s better road safety records in a relative sense, with 18.3 deaths from road accidents for every 100,000 people.
This first global assessment of road safety found that pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists make up almost half of the estimated 1.27 million people killed each year on roads around the world.
Said Dr Chan: ’’We found that in many countries, the laws necessary to protect people are either not in place, or are not comprehensive. And even when there is adequate legislation, most countries report that enforcement is low.’’
’’We are not giving sufficient attention to the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, many of whom end up in clinics and hospitals. We must do better if we are to halt or reverse the rise in road traffic injuries, disability and deaths,’’ she added.
Contacted in Dar es Salaam, the national traffic police commander, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police (SACP) James Kombe, told THISDAY he was not in a position to immediately comment on the UN report.
He said he had already recently issued a statement on what the police is doing to tackle road carnage in the country.
Tanzania Police Force Traffic Commander, SACP James Kombe
THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam
TANZANIA is now officially ranked among countries with the world’s deadliest roads, prompting United Nations health chiefs to urge the government to tighten road safety laws.
The Global Status Report on Road Safety, released on Monday by the World Health Organisation (WHO), shows that road users in Tanzania are more likely to be killed than in many other countries.
According to the new report, the number of vulnerable road users being killed in the country is worryingly high, with pedestrians constituting 37 per cent of casualties.
Deaths by road user category in the country include motor vehicle passengers (33 per cent), cyclists (17 per cent), motorbike/bajaj riders (7 per cent) and motor vehicle drivers (6 per cent).
The report reveals that 34.3 for every 100,000 people were killed on roads in Tanzania during 2007, a dismal record compared to neighbouring countries such as Uganda, Burundi, Malawi, Zambia, and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Kenya has a slightly higher death toll from road accidents compared to Tanzania, at 34.4 people killed per 100,000.
According to the report, a staggering 2,595 deaths were reported on roads in Tanzania in 2007 alone, with men making up 78 per cent of the casualties and women, 22 per cent.
Compared with the United Kingdom which has a 5.4 per 100,000 population road death rate, this means that people are over six times more likely to die on Tanzanian roads than in the UK.
With the global average of 18.8 road deaths per 100,000 people, Tanzania has one of the highest death tolls in the world.
’’It is a dangerous place to be on the roads, either as a pedestrian or a driver, and there needs to be more focus on vulnerable road users,’’ says the WHO report.
WHO Director General Dr Margaret Chan said the poor road safety record of Tanzania and many of its neighbours ’’deserves our highest attention’’, and called on officials to take action.
The report notes that laws on seat belts, drink driving, speed limits, and mandatory motorcycle helmets are not stringent enough in the country, and enforcement is lax.
It reveals for instance that the seat-belt law in Tanzania does not uniformly apply to all motor vehicle occupants.
According to available data cleared by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare for the purposes of the WHO research, hardly 30 per cent of drivers and front-seat passengers obey the seat-belt law and wear the devices - while just 5 per cent of rear-seat passengers do the same.
The 287-page global report notes with concern that Tanzania lacks a child restraint law, which effectively renders its enforcement of road safety regulations for children virtually non-applicable.
Some 57 per cent of the 577,949 vehicles registered in the country by 2007 were mini-buses, vans and other motor vehicles with seating capacities in the 20-passengers range.
Other vehicle categories registered in Tanzania are motor cars (14 per cent), motorbikes/bajaj scooters (9 per cent), trucks (7 per cent), buses (4 per cent) and others of the like (9 per cent).
Police recorded 16,308 non-fatal accidents in 2007, with the trend in road deaths showing a steady increase since 2000.
Only a small number of African countries studied in the report, which covers a total of 178 nations and more than 98 per cent of the world population, have a worse road deaths record than Tanzania, according to the WHO report.
These include Angola (37.7 deaths per 100,000 people), Libya (40.5), Egypt (47.5), and Eritrea (48.4).
Botswana has one of Africa’s better road safety records in a relative sense, with 18.3 deaths from road accidents for every 100,000 people.
This first global assessment of road safety found that pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists make up almost half of the estimated 1.27 million people killed each year on roads around the world.
Said Dr Chan: ’’We found that in many countries, the laws necessary to protect people are either not in place, or are not comprehensive. And even when there is adequate legislation, most countries report that enforcement is low.’’
’’We are not giving sufficient attention to the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, many of whom end up in clinics and hospitals. We must do better if we are to halt or reverse the rise in road traffic injuries, disability and deaths,’’ she added.
Contacted in Dar es Salaam, the national traffic police commander, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police (SACP) James Kombe, told THISDAY he was not in a position to immediately comment on the UN report.
He said he had already recently issued a statement on what the police is doing to tackle road carnage in the country.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Infolinks: Personal experience & Recommendation
Blogging might be for personal interest, just to publish idea. But the trend in blogging, change from a mere publishing with making money that make it funny and even more interesting, with that view in perspective , I do here by today come up with something new. I want to share with my dearest readers on my experience on Infolinks, one of the global known in text Ad.
I joined Infolinks on 3rd December 20008, it was not by chance it was my effort looking on internet on how to make money from blog. I was introduced to Infolinks via search engine: Are you also blogging? or own a website? be it personal or business purpose, making money is now more easy than before. Just visit Infolinks web page, you don’t need to be an IT expert, it take me personally less than five (5) minutes to integrate Infolinks.
One might ask, how did you integrate infolinks? It is simple, after you sign up you will be assigned publishers ID and the HTML code. It is this code that you paste in the HTML of your site. This code is permanently saved on your account; you may retrieve it any time you want. Just sign on Infolinks you will find a menu for REPORT, MY ACCOUNT ,and INTEGRATION GUIDE. In the integration guide you will always find your HTML code plus advanced setting where you may change some option, includes colour, number of Ad to appear, a maximum is 12. Heartily speaking it was easy, I started in INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, later on integrated in my other blog URBAN & REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING.
The best of it you don’t need to change your website to use Infolinks, you just paste the HTML code to your site.
I haven’t yet receive any cheque so far from infolinks, but am happy with my earning. I do even remember my first earning it was 2008, December 14 (Sunday), it is possible for me to remember it, I just check a report on my Infolinks account. Even though we do post at least two (2) monthly, we have been able to get total net impressions of 642. In past months the schedule was tight, and still we have so many to learn on blog design and administration. We do have goals and strategies as from May we’ll be publishing daily. So I welcome you to be one of the blog follower, I do hope that I will come with new story on Infolinks next time.
I tried in-text before, it was hard to integrate and that is why I decided to go to search engine for alternative, it is I come for Infolinks.
If other provider, I tried before could have been support responsive I could have not been to Infolinks. The way I write someone might think am joking or am boasting the Infolinks. Strictly No! Do you have your website? Or a blog just try it today. Confidently you will be the next to send your testimonial.
I do remember soon after I joined, I post some question to info@infolinks.com, it was 3rd of December 2008, it was promptly answered on 4th December 2008 by customer care: from Sarah Medevesky.
Am satisfied with Infolinks, and am ready to assist you anytime. Don’t just do blogging make money, try Infolinks
I joined Infolinks on 3rd December 20008, it was not by chance it was my effort looking on internet on how to make money from blog. I was introduced to Infolinks via search engine: Are you also blogging? or own a website? be it personal or business purpose, making money is now more easy than before. Just visit Infolinks web page, you don’t need to be an IT expert, it take me personally less than five (5) minutes to integrate Infolinks.
One might ask, how did you integrate infolinks? It is simple, after you sign up you will be assigned publishers ID and the HTML code. It is this code that you paste in the HTML of your site. This code is permanently saved on your account; you may retrieve it any time you want. Just sign on Infolinks you will find a menu for REPORT, MY ACCOUNT ,and INTEGRATION GUIDE. In the integration guide you will always find your HTML code plus advanced setting where you may change some option, includes colour, number of Ad to appear, a maximum is 12. Heartily speaking it was easy, I started in INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, later on integrated in my other blog URBAN & REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING.
The best of it you don’t need to change your website to use Infolinks, you just paste the HTML code to your site.
I haven’t yet receive any cheque so far from infolinks, but am happy with my earning. I do even remember my first earning it was 2008, December 14 (Sunday), it is possible for me to remember it, I just check a report on my Infolinks account. Even though we do post at least two (2) monthly, we have been able to get total net impressions of 642. In past months the schedule was tight, and still we have so many to learn on blog design and administration. We do have goals and strategies as from May we’ll be publishing daily. So I welcome you to be one of the blog follower, I do hope that I will come with new story on Infolinks next time.
I tried in-text before, it was hard to integrate and that is why I decided to go to search engine for alternative, it is I come for Infolinks.
If other provider, I tried before could have been support responsive I could have not been to Infolinks. The way I write someone might think am joking or am boasting the Infolinks. Strictly No! Do you have your website? Or a blog just try it today. Confidently you will be the next to send your testimonial.
I do remember soon after I joined, I post some question to info@infolinks.com, it was 3rd of December 2008, it was promptly answered on 4th December 2008 by customer care: from Sarah Medevesky.
Am satisfied with Infolinks, and am ready to assist you anytime. Don’t just do blogging make money, try Infolinks
Monday, April 6, 2009
Mwenge: A giant daladala bus stand without public toilet
Have you ever been to a metropolitan Dar Es Salaam city? At least you have had this place called Mwenge, there is one of the demo bus stand at least for the level of city commuter buses famously known as daladala ( in Kenya called Matatuu) . Any attempt to wee on public you are liable to fine of Tshs 50, 000/= or else six month jail.
I guess no one want to expose his naughty part publicly unless drunkard. But city council where are toilets, what the hell those gate collection fees for?
Dear readers whom to blame? What to do? Any experience from other city?
I guess no one want to expose his naughty part publicly unless drunkard. But city council where are toilets, what the hell those gate collection fees for?
Dear readers whom to blame? What to do? Any experience from other city?
Tender: Solid Waste Collection - Ilala Municipal
The Ilala municipal council announced the tender for solid waste collection, transportation, disposal & street drain cleansing in Ilala municipality.
The Deadline at or before 30th April 2009.
For more information check on Daily News (1st April 2009) or
Secretary, Municipal Tender board
P.O.BOX 20950
Dar Es Salaam
I wish the tender to be fair and transparency, let award to competitive bidder, to help our city achieve sustainable development goals, all the best municipal council
The Deadline at or before 30th April 2009.
For more information check on Daily News (1st April 2009) or
Secretary, Municipal Tender board
P.O.BOX 20950
Dar Es Salaam
I wish the tender to be fair and transparency, let award to competitive bidder, to help our city achieve sustainable development goals, all the best municipal council
Welcome Daudi Danda
Welcome Mr. Danda, we are delighed for you to join us, our family is growing. I know Mr Danda personally; he is my colleague, a planner, with strong knowledge and experience in Urban and rural development issues. The good of him he is interacting, very active. In that context we have a lot to learn from him. Karibu sana Bwana Danda, Hapa ni Nyumbani kwako kitaaluma, Welcome
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