AFRICAN MAYORS MEET IN DAR ES SALAAM OVER URBAN PLANNING

City of Dar es Salaam.

Dar es Salaam. Over 50 mayors, urban planners and technical experts from 25 cities around the world have gathered in Dar es Salaam to “think outside their boundary” and share experiences on managing rapid urban expansion through metropolitan planning.

The event, called the Global Lab on Metropolitan Strategic Planning, or MetroLab, is taking place from November 17 to 20 and is co-organised by the World Bank and the City of Dar es Salaam.

This is the first Lab to be held in Africa since the initiative was launched in April 2013, supported by the Korean Research Institute for Human Settlements, Seoul Municipal Government, Cities Alliance and the Ford Foundation.

“Dar es Salaam is one of the fastest growing cities in the world,” said Philippe Dongier, World Bank Tanzania Country director. This, he said, called for the need to ensure a strong local tax base for municipal governments.

It also calls for the need to adjust governance arrangements to enable city-wide metropolitan planning and management and to implement zoning policies that facilitate growth of industries as well as good and safe living conditions and heritage conservation.

It also becomes critical to enable competitiveness of enterprises to generate the large number of productive jobs that are needed by the booming urban labour force - including by focusing on skills, access to finance, and infrastructure.”

According to the practical manager for the World Bank, responsible for global urban development, Mr Sameh Wahba,

The best way to plan African cities is by putting in place functioning public-private partnerships that go beyond local investors, he said. “Tanzania must learn from New York City which has the urban planning association encompassing various stakeholders from the private sector,” he added.

Mr Wahba said that at a growth rate of five per cent annually, Dar es Salaam City required enough capacity for mobilising physical and financial resources. “Private sector participation is crucial for proper urban planning. This gathering is also seeking ways of involving stakeholders in the private sector to tackle the challenges affecting many cities in the world. We want to share experiences in urban development,” he said.

And according to the Dar es Salaam City Mayor, Didas Masaburi, Tanzania needs a change in its urban planning policies and accommodate the involvement of the private sector.

The Citizen