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Govt plans to demolish illegal petrol...
2006-07-18 09:29:44
By Chakua Dunia of SAUT
About 80 per cent of filling stations in Dar es Salaam are illegally constructed, the Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development John Pombe Magufuli has said.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Magufuli said the law provides that filling stations be constructed at least one kilometre apart.
Magufuli said that most of the filling stations in Dar es Salaam have been constructed without regard to the law on settlements.
”Only 20 per cent of the filling stations are legally constructed. The law will take its course when it comes to dealing with illegally built filling stations,” he said
He said that petrol stations that are close to each other pose danger to people who live near them, especially in the event of a fire accident.
He said that in creating sustainable cities, his ministry would no longer pull down houses that have been built in unplanned areas. However, filling stations would not be spared, he said.
Magufuli said that so far, the government has approved 230,000 plots in different parts of Dar es Salaam and the ministry is in the process of issuing title deeds to owners.
”We decided to do that because we realised that it was not their fault to build in those areas, it is because they missed planned plots that are owned by few land officers,” he said.
He urged Tanzanians to obey settlement laws as a means to achieving sustainable cities goal.
”We cannot change our cities if we allow everyone to construct houses in any area. People must obey the law,” he said
Commenting on the World Urban Forum, which took place on June this year, he said it was realised that Africa has many problems related to development of cities compared to other continents.
The minister said that more than 70 per cent of the people living in towns are staying in unplanned informal settlement.
He said that in 1967, only 5 per cent of the people lived in towns, but todate, 25 per cent of the world population lives in urban areas.
The Executive Director for UN Habitat, Dr Anna Tibaijuka, said that most of people who live in urban areas had no idea about planned urban settlements.
She said that in the near future the government would start a programme to provide settlement education.
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