Dar in overview
Arusha — DAR ES SALAAM residents are said to be purchasing cars at an alarming rate that at the moment there is a motor vehicle per every four persons in the commercial capital.
The Minister for Works, Dr John Magufuli, stated here during the ongoing Road Fund meeting, that so far there are one million registered cars in Dar es Salaam alone, the country's largest urban centre, with an estimated population of 4 million.
But as millions of vehicles continue to congest the city's roads, more shipments of imported vehicles continue to dock at the port with many earlier arrivals queuing for registration.
"That is why we need to work harder in order to expand the city's corridors in addition to constructing new roads so as to help ease the traffic and accommodate the ever increasing number of vehicles being bought," said the minister.
As far as Dr Magufuli is concerned, massive road works projects in the city and the related inconveniences are inevitable especially because road reserves in Dar-es-Salaam are different from other regions.
"In Arusha and other regions the road reserve clearance should be 30 metres on either sides but in Dar-es-Salaam the law demand an extensive 100 metres clearance on both sides of the main road such as along Morogoro Highway," said Dr Magufuli.
The minister pointed out that demolition of both residential and business premises that have encroached into road reserves will be an ongoing exercise unless local authorities take the initiative to educate the public regarding the laws. "The laws have been there before most of us were born; they were meant to guide our operations and when it comes to road reserves, the acts had made provisions even for these modern days when our cities will experience a boom in car ownership.
"But as more and more vehicles get shipped into the country, the government isn't about to regulate such importation, take the case of Dar-es-Salaam for example, the one million vehicles would require one million people to drive them around and that in itself creates employment," said Dr Magufuli.
He was of the view that both private and public means of transport created ample employment opportunities including jobs for drivers, conductors, and mechanics as well as fuel pumps' attendants.
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