The present utility infrastructure and
set-up in Dodoma have created doubt as to whether the 43-year old
decision to shift to the centrallylocated region could at this time
around materialise.
According to some critics, the capital
transfer would hit a technical snag especially after some ministries,
including the Prime Minister’s Office explicitly declared to move
permanently to the Capital City District, which is part of the semi-arid
Dodoma region.
But the state water, telecom and
electricity firms, which had been investing multi-billion dollars on
infrastructures in Dar es Salaam, said they are well organised to
counter any rising demand owing to population inflows.
The Tanzania Telecommunication Company
Limited (TTCL) has told the ‘Daily News’ that the firm, which has
received funding from the TIB Development Bank, will upgrade the
national broadband network to enable data transfer from the current 40
GB to 200 GB by November this year.
“The expansion work has already started
to increase the traffic capacity between Dar es Salaam and Dodoma. TTCL
is working with equipment manufacturers, Huawei and Alcatel, to execute
expansion works,” TTCL Chief Executive Officer, Dr Kamugisha Kazaura,
said.
According to the TTCL boss, the firm
will launch its 4G service in the new capital (designated) in November.
It is also working to upgrade its IP-Network to allow sharing of large
data and files from the current 1 GB to 10 GB.
An IP network is a communication network
that uses Internet Protocol (IP) to send and receive messages between
one or more computers.
The plan, according to TTCL, will help
improve communications in the region. Energy and Minerals Minister
Sospeter Muhongo made it clear in Dodoma that his ministry had resolved
to upgrade the electricity infrastructure to provide better reliability
and more resiliences, among other improvements.
Professor Muhongo announced the
construction of Iringa-Dodoma-Singida- Shinyanga power line (backbone
transmission line), linking the regions to the national grid, will be
completed by October.
The 670-km stretch, with transmission
capacity of 400kV, is now completed from Iringa to Dodoma and will be
launched in September.
“The project, to cost 450 million US
dollars, is being financed by the World Bank, Japan Development Agency,
European Union, Korean Development Bank and the African Development
Bank. At the completion of the project, Tanzania will be able to sell
surplus electricity to Kenya and Zambia,” the minister said.
The Ministry of Water held a closed-door
meeting with its key players in Dar es Salaam yesterday to deliberate
on the best ways to reduce outages and provide the highest quality of
service to the growing demand for the utility.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry
of Water and Irrigation, Engineer Mbogo Futakamba, has reported that the
ministry planned to expand the region’s water distribution network.
He said as it stands now, the capacity of the Dodoma water utility
agency is to pump 61.5 million litres daily while production can go up
to 72 million litres.“Actual demand for water in Dodoma is 46 million litres but the authority has been pumping less than 40 million litres due to minimal demand and limited distribution networks,” Mr Futakamba explained.
The deep borehole drilled at Mzakwe in the region with the support of the Korean government is not enough. Plans are, therefore, underway to construct Farkwa Dam, which is situated 30 kilometres from Dodoma Municipality.
“We had conducted a feasibility study and it will take between 18 and 24 months for it to be complete. In addition, the government has so far compensated residents at a 60-hectare area to pave way for the construction of a sewerage facility,” the PS detailed.
He said while the construction of the dam will cost 520bn/-, talks are going on with a Chinese firm to support the construction of a sewerage system in the region.
