Urban Rebuilding amid Natural Wonders

Tanzania Urban Sector Rehabilitation Project

The city of Arusha in Tanzania is where the Great Rift Valley, Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Mount Kilimanjaro, Lake Manyara, Tarangire National Park, and Oldupai Gorge, the world’s most important prehistoric site, all meet. A truly unique area, it is also one of the world’s greatest tourist destinations.

But, like Tanzania itself, although rich in natural beauty, Arusha is economically poor and lacks the infrastructure to support a growing tourism industry. Poor and depleted roadways, limited sanitation, and unreliable water supply systems have prevented the city from operating at its full economic potential. Moreover, government capacity to deliver and maintain any major infrastructure changes was missing.

Recognizing the potential, the government teamed with the World Bank and other development partners, notably KfW, to tap into the economic promise. Together, the partners designed the Urban Sector Rehabilitation Project (USRP) to help major cities in Tanzania build capacity and develop infrastructure to encourage other investments.

Implementation of USRP began in May of 1997. But prior to its execution, the Urban Sector Engineering Project (USEP) was implemented with World Bank and other bilateral funding. This project provided the technical assistance for towns to frame strong institutional policies for USRP to do the actual groundwork projects in Tanzania’s cities. The cities covered under USRP were Arusha, Iringa, Morogoro, Mbeya, Moshi, Mwanza, Tabora and Tanga. Limited projects were also implemented in Dodoma and Dar es Salaam.

USRP was comprised of four components. The first was the Rehabilitation of Basic Infrastructure and Expansion into High-Priority, Underserved Areas. It allowed cities like Arusha to restore roads, build latrines in schools, expand water systems, manage solid waste, and mend sewerage systems. Improved roads cut travel costs, made access to roads and other places far easier, and reduced travel times significantly. And with better roads, tourists had more time to visit more sites, generating more income for more businesses.

In Arusha, water supply service has now been improved. There are far fewer incidences of water-borne diseases, and water is available all the time. This means that women no longer bear the task of fetching water several times a day.

The second component was the Community Based Infrastructure Services and Water Supply Rehabilitation in Dar es Salaam, which focused on the Tabata and Kijitoyama communities. These towns formed community-based organizations (CBOs), comprised of elected officials, which were responsible for raising 5 percent of the required capital costs for community selected projects. Both towns choose mainly road and water system projects. Support to the rehab of the water supply system of Dar es Salaam supplied urgently needed reinforcement to sustain the system and prepare the current Dar es Salaam Water Supply Project.

The third component, Institutional Strengthening, trained workers in Municipal Councils and employees in the Urban Water and Sewage Authorities in the eight major cities. The training focused on prioritizing, planning, and executing projects. Project Task Team Leader Solomon Alemu says that “the management and financial capacity of the towns has improved significantly and the local governments are now in a much better position to maintain and sustain projects.”

With the new accountability established with this component has come a developing trust between people and their local governments. Seeing real improvements in their daily lives, people are more willing to pay taxes.

The final component – Future Preparation – afforded resources for the preparation of the Local Government Support Program (LGSP). This program supports the Local Government Reform Program on decentralization by building capacity and strengthening the fiscal decentralization strategy. It also addresses the chronic urban problem of slums through a pilot program focused in Dar es Salaam. The program may soon extend to other cities in Tanzania.

USRP closed at the end of 2004. Its success can be seen in every city in which it was implemented. TTL Alemu says “Before the project, basic urban services for many communities were in poor condition. But with improvements provided under the USRP, businesses mushroomed overnight and the value of the properties rose significantly. Participation of the private sector in the service delivery has also been enhanced significantly.”