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Magufuli directs demolition of state-owned power firm Tanesco offices for road expansion

Tanesco pic

Dar es Salaam

Tanzania's President John Magufuli has directed the headquarters of the the state-owned electric supply firm, Tanesco, be demolished.

President Magufuli directed the Tanzania National Road Agency (Tanroads) to put an X mark on the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Ltd (Tanesco) headquarters in the capital Dar es Salaam so it can be demolished -- as it sits on a road reserve.

The demolition will the pave for a contractor of the TSh188 billion (Sh8.6 billion) Ubungo Interchange project to officially start work.

The demolition will also involve a fence of offices of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation which – like the Tanesco building – is also located along Morogoro Road at Ubungo.

The Ubungo Interchange will connect Sam Nujoma, Nelson Mandela and Morogoro roads in Ubungo municipality.

The president made the directives on Wednesday on his tour of the site, soon after arriving in the city from Chato District, Geita.

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'Respect the law'

“The Road Reserve Act requires that one should not build within 90 metres from the middle of the road on either side of it. We must respect the law so that the Interchange Project can be implemented without hindrances,” said Dr Magufuli, who was in the company of Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner Paul Makonda. He said the law must always be supreme and that not even the government must be above it.

Speaking during the event, a consultant engineer for the Ubungo Interchange, Mr Reginald Kayanga, said actual construction is scheduled to start next month.

Before going to Ubungo, Dr Magufuli inspected the construction of the Tazara flyover at the junction of Sam Nujoma and Nyerere roads where an engineer at the site, Mr Richard Baruani, informed him that the project was 64 per cent done and that it would be completed by October 2018.

In the past few months, 1,300 houses, public buildings and houses of prayers have been demolished by Tanroads to pave the way for the expansion of the Kimara-Kiluvya section of Morogoro Road.

READ: Tanzania minister demolishes own house for road expansion

Between Kimara and Kiluvya area, the road reserve area measures 121.5 metres from the centre of the key infrastructure.