MOST Dar es Salaam residents living from all corners of its suburbs are faced with a great challenge of acquiring land on which to build permanent houses of their own, a week long survey by The Guardian can reveal. Some of the biggest challenge includes availability of plots which currently could be easily obtained in far flung areas from the city and their prices a bit higher coupled with the high prices of building materials such as cement which is skyrocketing. The areas which are now designated for new plots are Chanika, Pugu Kajiungeni, Msongola and Kigogo Fresh along Kisarawe road and Vikindu and Kisemvule along Kilwa road as well as Bunju all the way to Bagamoyo and Kibaha about 40 kilometers away from the city. Generally these are the areas one can get a plot on which to build a house, the four road network are the major outlets that link the city of Dar es Salaam with other upcountry regions. Other challenges graced are to do with the transport which becomes so expensive for and ordinary worker when coming to work and going back home from the city. Even with those with personal means of transport, the cost of fuel becomes yet another obstacle.
The survey shows that, the prices of most plots in the designated areas which are suitable for construction of residential buildings are rising. Even unsurveyed plots are being sold at higher prices as the demand is hiting the roof, but in newly developed areas such as Majohe, Nyantira and Bomba Mbili within Ilala municipality a .hectare of land is currently sold sat between Tsh. 3.5 million and Sh. 4 million. “This is a tremendous increase says Matiko Megwe, a long time resident of Majohe kwa Mwanagati, a newly established suburb. Megwe bought his plot twenty five years ago before he started constructing his house as th3e are was still too bushy. However, he said in an exclusive interview early this week in Dar es Salaam that, the price of the same piece of land has now increased by over 20 times and could be fetched at over Sh. 5 million. Without knowing the development of human settlements, ignorance is one aspect that drives most people into a misunderstanding about their future life. According to an expert in human settlement at Ilala Municipal council who spoke on condition of anonymity, land prices in most areas surrounding the city of Dar es Salaam has been rising because population is rapidly increasing and this surges up the need for having houses to accommodate people. A government program to formulate the informal sector including surveying land and issuing title deeds to owners in various Dar es Salaam suburbs, has made the land move more valuable because the surveyed plots can be used as collaterals to borrow money from a lending financial institution. A village chairman for Bomba Mbili village in Chanika ward, Said Bakiriu says that land will soon become ac scarce commodity, judging from his own area which he said people are pushing to buy it noted that people have taken larger plots and around his area. According to the Ministry of Land and Human Settlements, Prof. Tibaijulka has drawn strategic plans throughout the country from district level had started surveying land in unsurveyed areas. For Dar city another big towns and other cities with all its suburbs,. For Dar city alone, statistics that up to December 2008 about 410,000 land owners living in unplanned areas were identified. Around three quarters of the population within the city lives in squatters. However, about 150,000 home owners have been registered and given the deeds since 2002 when the exercise started. Coupled with the rapid changes of the newly built structure coming up in more magnificent sc ale in the city of Dar es Salaam with the escalating commercial and residential flats, the sector has witnessed a tremendous boom for the last 15 years. Among the major key players in the on-going real estate boom in the city and even in upcountry regions is turning out to be none other than real estate developers who have encouraged real estate agents for commercial renting for office and residential business.
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