While the State government continues its efforts towards making Dar es Salaam city to achieve its mega status dream for the state, poor sanitation continues to blight the city’s drive towards this achievement, the survey over te situation can authoritatively report. A random survey carried out by this paper in some streets in Kariakoo, the main business and shopping complex and at the city centre reveals a shocking, yet almost amusing fact about the continued bad state of the environment which is littered with uncollected filth. The survey has also discovered that apart from uncollected filth, in some areas sewer water could be seen flowing along the street giving out horrible smell to passersby, and this is due to the dilapidated underground sewer pipes whose infrastructures are worn out. In some places the main sewer pipes are leaking and give out bad smell of human excreta which need immediate replacement. Early last week the most visited the mostly affected streets which are so notorious and found the situation is more appalling. The streets visited by this paper early this week are Livingstone and Aggrey streets, Congo and Pemba Street (behind Msimbazi police station) which are located at Kariakoo business complex. Other areas include Msimbazi Street, Nango’mbe street overlooking the gate leading to the underground Kariakoo market, and Zanaki street near Haidery Plaza building at the heart of the Dar es Salaam city centre. A spot check in these areas has discovered that, ordinary people including petty traders who conduct their daily business activities are seriously inconvenienced with the regular obnoxious odour emitting from the dilapidated underground sewer water pipes.
Interviewed residents around the area are disappointed with the situation which to some extent poses to their health hazards especially during rainy seasons when the situation becomes intolerable. According to experts, exposed open trenches pose a great threat to people’s health. This is responsible for a number of illnesses and diseases and may be the source of some generic problems resulting as one of the most deprived condition for human health. Contacted for comments, the spokesperson of the Ilala Municipal Council Tabu Shaibu who admitted the prevailing situation and put it clear that, repairs of underground water pipes is entirely the responsibility of the Dar es Salaam Water Supply Authority (DAWASCO). She claimed that, the water authority seem to ignore their responsibility thus prompting many city residents think that the replacement of such worn out infrastructure is executed by Ilala Municipal council whereas is not the case. Clarifying over the matter mid this week she said that, ‘there is a long standing controversy between her municipal council and the city water authority over their failure an aspect that renders their efforts to make the city clean. Speaking over the matter, the DAWASCO’s Public Relations Officer Evalasting Lyaro said that, his company is trying all it can in order to remedy the situation which she admitted to be causing inconvenienceds to the people around. She noted that, despite efforts shown by DAWASCO, but the increasing population density is another exacerbating factor that causes the underground sewer water pipes to fail work properly causing a leakage to some of them. She also noted of the continued habit of vandalizing some infrastructures by some unfaithful citizens and that the situation retards the development of the drainage systems for the sewer water in the city. Meanwhile, the three Dar es Salaam Municipal Councils are struggling to control the bulging population density which is increasing at a high rate due to rural migration of people in search of jobs for livelihoods. An official of the National Bureau of Statistics who spoke on condition of anonymity said that, it is estimated that an average of 9 people are entering in Dar ers Salaam city on daily basis, an aspect that is a cause of high congestion causing use of water infrastructure to become congested. But few people may appreciate the extent of this problem which is fast becoming an epidemic in the state.
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