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Dar es Salaam Mayor Dr Didas Massaburi
The four-day event dubbed the Global Lab on Metropolitan Strategic Planning, or ‘MetroLab’ which is jointly organised by the World Bank and Dar city was launched yesterday.
This is the first time for the event to be held in Africa since the MetroLab initiative was launched in April 2013, supported by the Korean Research Institute for Human Settlements, Seoul Municipal Government, Cities Alliance and Ford Foundation.
Dar es Salaam mayor, Didas Massaburi played a leading role in defining the MetroLab mission, explaining: “Urban planning can be effective only if cities think of the people and the communities that live in surrounding districts, who will be impacted by the economy, social activities and the environment of the entire region.”
He was of the view that the insufficient number of city planners is one of the reasons impeding initiatives of proper planning.
“We agree that our cities are not well planned and the problem is growing rapidly due to the lack of education amongst the community on master planning,” he explained.
Regarding the planning of Dar city, Massaburi said they are seeking to collaborate with the private sector to implement such projects.
“There are some projects that cannot be implemented without support from the private sector, for ease and speedy implementation,” he added.
The mayor noted that though there are laws on city planning, especially in settlements, there is little compliance, “we have to work hard especially in cities like Dar es Salaam where population is growing rapidly.”
World Bank Tanzania Country Director Philippe Dongier said: “Dar es Salaam is one of the fastest growing cities in the world,” adding: “As a city grows rapidly, it becomes essential to ensure a strong local tax base for municipal governments, to adjust governance arrangements to enable city-wide metropolitan planning and management, to implement zoning policies that facilitate growth of industries as well as good and safe living conditions and heritage conservation.”
“It also becomes critical to enable competitiveness of enterprises to generate the large number of productive jobs that are needed by the booming urban labour force – including by focusing on skills, access to finance, and infrastructure,” noted Dongier.
Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, World Bank Senior Director for the Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice, said: “MetroLab is unique in the way cities at all stages of development are taking the lead to learn from each other. We hope this initiative will help cities find solutions, as they pursue inclusive and sustainable urban growth.”
Also present at the event, Deputy Permanent Secretary - Prime Minister’s Office-Regional Secretariat and Local Government, Zuberi Samataba said despite opportunities availed by the cities, the growing population in the cities normally doesn’t correspond with the available resources.
He said for starters the cities should become more competitive and create more jobs.
He said there is a need to have livable and bankable cities in terms of attracting economic opportunities and managing the available cultural diversities while preserving the environment.
The government official said Tanzania has to redirect its cities to match with others and should also educate the community on the importance of city planning.
He was however optimistic that with committed and responsible authorities, Dar es Salaam can be properly planned.
He further said Tanzania has been a strong supporter of such initiatives and that is why the city of Dar es Salaam has participated fully in the ‘Lab’ since its inauguration in USA last year.
With Dar es Salaam as a ‘laboratory for learning’, participants will visit the city’s rapid bus transit system, which is widely seen as a catalyst for metropolitan development.
They are also expected to discuss metropolitan perspectives of transport, land use and urban sprawl; managing metropolitan services including solid waste, water, and sewerage; housing; metropolitan finance; and other issues.
Lessons learned from the experiences of cities around the world at MetroLab will inform the World Bank’s work with the Tanzanian government on a new urbanisation review diagnostic, to help Tanzanian cities become more competitive and create jobs.
Cities and municipalities represented at the historic event include Accra, Addis Ababa, Arusha, Colombo, Dar es Salaam, the three Dar es Salaam municipalities (Ilala, Kinondoni and Temeke), Kigali, Kisumu, Mbeya, Mumbai, Mwanza, Nairobi, New York, Paris, Karachi, Seoul, Rio de Janeiro, Singapore, Tanga and Zanzibar
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