Government is planning to purchase modern equipment that will demarcate clearly between land that belongs to the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) and the public to reduce conflicts between the public and the military.
Defence and National Service minister Shamsi Vuai Nahodha
Tabling the ministry’s budget estimates in Parliament yesterday the Minister for Defence and National Service, Mr Shamsi Vuai Nahodha said there are 80 land conflicts between the military and the public in various parts of the country.
Mr Nahodha said the conflicts are due to the fact that most of the land owned by TPDF has not been surveyed, leading to the encroachment by the public, resulting to conflicts. “Limited budgets and modern equipment are the challenges slowing down the process,” Mr Nahodha said.
He said the force needs land for construction of camps, accommodation for soldiers and warehouses for storage. “It is my appeal to the public to respect land that belongs to TPDF and likewise the military will respect the public, I want this to be clear, that land that belongs to the military should be respected,” the minister stressed.
A number of legislatures especially those from Zanzibar, urged the government to speed up the demarcation of land to reduce conflicts in Zanzibar and allow the public to conduct their daily duties peacefully. He explained that the cost of building the houses in the first phase will cost US 300 million dollars and a Chinese company called Shangai Construction (Group) General will implement the project.
The military residential houses will be built in different regions including Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Kagera, Kigoma, Morogoro, Pemba, Pwani and Tanga. He said the residential housing project will take 50 months. He added that the funds for construction of the houses is a loan from Exim Bank in China, amounting to US 285 million dollars and US 15million dollars from the government of Tanzania.
Source Tanzania Daily News
