The case of planning after development with George Miringay

By Mahali Infrastructure TZ

I’ve always found the term third world a little demeaning, it never sat well with me since I heard it for the first time in secondary school. It’s though we’re breathing a different type of oxygen, waking up and not sweating through the day like every human being to recline at the end so we meet again in the sublime world of dreams. 

However I guess I comprehend the term better, when I look closely at the difference in infrastructure particularly that employed in our country’s big cities. Then am afraid yes we’re in ‘another world’, one where decisions of waste management and basic town planning etiquette are foreign or are they? 

Here with us today is Mr. George Miringay a certified Town Planner working in Dar es Salaam. Who recently completed his Masters Degree in Urban Planning and Management at Ardhi University in Dar es Salaam. We have him today to highlight for us the core challenge that faces our cities infrastructure today.

Personally living in Dar and currently renting my home, I’ve thought I should move on out of here by the time I’m 35; I just need a rich husband stat. Jokes aside even with my untrained eye; I can deduce things have taken a dive with our infrastructure. 

Kariakoo a typical case of planning after development  photo from B

For one our city center (Central Business District-CBD) isn’t at the center! Meaning our movement to and fro is cumbersome adding that our infant transport lines can hardly support our burgeoning population (currently the third fastest growing city in Africa increasing at a rate of 4.39% in population annually and 9th in the world with a projection of 5.12 million people by 2020-wikipedia.or.ke/index.php/Dar_es_Salaam. 

International firm Price Water Coopers predicts “Currently ‘the three ‘big’ cities on the continent are Lagos, Kinshasa and Johannesburg but PWC predicts that another ten cities are set to join them in importance by 2030 including Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Addis Ababa and Khartoum… However we see three key hurdles which could derail the pace at which the `Next 10' grow. These include the “low quality” of `hard' infrastructure like highways, airports and trains, which increase the cost of doing business, eat away at business profits discouraging investment."

A two way tarmac road in a congested residential area in
Dar es Salaam showing the classic challenge
of planning after development

Notwithstanding it seems we’re getting totally lawless in our land use, there’s hardly any area that is strictly residential (Mikocheni, Sinza) or strictly commercial (City Center-Upanga) or strictly industrial (Mikocheni C) as should be. Things are all mixed a bar is next to a home; a factory next to a school?!! Yup third world indeed anyhow…

Our expert voice Mr. Miringay will tell you “In Tanzania particularly Dar es Salaam, the case of executing town planning after development is our core challenge. As well in our remedying of situation-our Town Planning Officers (TPO) in implementing the Town Planning Scheme (TPS), allocate surveyed plots to people before installation of infrastructure (after surveying stage).”

This means areas already with citizens as landowners serve as cities prior to thought out plans otherwise referred to as Master Plans being executed. George went on to explain that a successful master plan is one that is carried out on land that is solely owned by the government here the land is developed to buildings stage then citizens are later invited in at costs. Of course this is mostly utopia and few countries in the world have accomplished this. Rather there will be a Town Planning Scheme that will involve land owners working with the government in redeveloping an area to appropriate use.

To quote the Dissertation by George Joseph Miringay Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Urban Planning and Management in Ardhi University. “In Tanzania town planning is governed using guides and land laws set more than 30 years ago and later on reviewed. 3.1.1 Cap 378 Town and Country Planning Act of 1956 revised in 1961…The main steps in preparation of detailed layout plan in accordance with Cap 378…does not show the stage for infrastructure installation, this means after survey stage plots are allocated to the owners ready for development while developers are not aware of the reserved areas which would be visible with further installation of infrastructure. Cap 378 does not describe the surveying stage instead describes the surveying of land taking place after approval of TPS.”

On asking what this ‘infrastructure after surveying stage’ is? I learned it means initial installation of amenities from a blue print of TPS by State. For instance if an area is meant to have a hospital and say a road that is 4m wide on TPS Blueprint; then before people are urged to buy plots. Already there has to be a small fence around the hospital area with a Sign indicating it’s a hospital reserved land as well the road will be graded to that breadth albeit with no tarmac; all this to ensure the TPS is effectively executed on the ground as on the Blue print.

Manzese DSM, the case of unplanned suburbs Photo
courtsey of 'msongo.blogspot.com'

Mr. Miringay in this dissertation as well highlights the last core challenge “Unfortunately, in many countries like Tanzania, where there is no development control department both in ministerial and local authority levels; the appointment of a town planner to check if people are developing in compliance with the scheme does not take place (Ballaney, 2007).”- Dissertation by George Joseph Miringay Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Urban Planning and Management in Ardhi University

So should we pack up and leave turns out there’s various other countries that have faced our challenge of ‘planning after development’ successfully. These include India, Korea, South Africa and Botswana where they’ve adapted cooperative TPS between the land owners and the government. In his recommendation for us on his dissertation Mr Miringay urges for “People‘s participation in preparation of policies, perspective plan, development plan and TPS plans should be ensured through elected representatives in the municipal council and ward committees…”

This will involve you actually getting to know who your ward government officials are; plus as he goes on to explain “…zoning regulations need to be simplified. The land use package shouldn’t be allowed to change by any authority, except as a part of the review of the TPS at the city/town level.” Certainly this will ease our current situation where strict residential areas or community areas are fast disappearing from mix land use.

Well the responsibility is on us all and hopefully our new representatives in the final drafting of the constitution will take it into account this recommendation…“The legal framework has to be supported by an effective and efficient machinery which would see that no distortion of master plan proposals take place at the ground level.”