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Dar airport project fails to take off
2008-04-12 10:42:05
By Lydia Shekighenda, Dodoma
Lack of a strategic investor has stalled ambitious plans to facelift the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in Dar es Salaam.
Infrastructure Development deputy minister Makongoro Mahanga told the House currently in session here that the government was yet to get a competent sponsor who would finance the airport expansion project.
According to Dr Mahanga, lack of adequate funding for compensating people living around the airport, whose houses and other immovable properties would be flattened to pave the way for the expansion, had put the undertaking on mark time.
Some 28bn/- is needed for paying out compensation alone, he said.
He said the government was working hard to look for alternative sources of paying out money to individuals who would be affected by the move, and that getting an investor was the best way to secure the much-needed finance.
A prospective financier, Dr Mahanga said, would put up various businesses, including hotels, export processing zones, fuel farms and shopping malls.
``In the year 2006/07, bidders were invited to forward their proposals, but no one is yet to respond,`` he said.
He said the Tanzania Airport Authority (TAA) was still communicating with potential investors.
Dr Mahanga said while the government was looking for money to pay those who would be evicted, the affected persons were already being allocated some alternative plots.
In 1997, the government put marks on homes earmarked for demolition.
Demolitions will take place in the city`s suburbs of Kipawa, Kigilagila and Kipunguni.
In the basic question, Mwanne Mchemba (Special seats, CCM) had wanted to know when the government would revive the plans, which she said had remained on bookshelves for quite a long time.
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