Government leases prime police land in 50-year deal

The government yesterday refuted claims that it had sold the 24-acre Oysterbay police area in Kinondoni District to a private investor.

Instead, it said the land has been leased to the investor for a 426.6bn/-($270 million) project aimed at developing the area for the good of the Police Force and the nation at large. 

The project is expected to begin in June, next year, after the signing of the contract.

According to the ministry of Home Affairs, the area has been leased for 50 years and the investor would build shopping malls, a modern hospital, a conference hall, hotel, office, residential houses and parking slots.

In a statement read by the ministry’s spokesperson, Mr Isaac Nantanga, the government said it had initiated the project due to the ever increasing demand for residential houses for police officers.

Mr Nantanga said the government was in need of about 34,710 houses for police officers countrywide. However, he said the investment for the project, apart from its diverse usage after completion, aims at getting money to build more housing units for the law enforcers.  

Moreover, the investor will have to construct new residential houses for Oysterbay police officers at Mikocheni (20 units) and Kunduchi (330 units). A modern police office will also be built at the current Oysterbay police area.

“The ministry did a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether the project would bear fruit…we are glad that the findings were positive,” Mr Nantanga said.

“Of the total cost, Sh395 billion will be used in constructing commercial buildings while Sh31.6 billion will be used to construct residential houses and a modern police station at Oysterbay,” he said.

He said the University of Dar es Salaam’s Bureau for Industrial Cooperation (BICO) was appointed as the lead consultant due to its experience in such projects as it was the one which engineered the completion of the Mlimani City project. According to him, international tendering process was advertised in November last year whereby 10 companies applied for the project.

After a thorough competitive process, according to the spokesperson, Uganda’s Mara Capital Group Ltd was appointed as the developer and a contract was signed on June 23, this year.

Mr Nantanga, however, insisted that the area will remain property of the government and the properties belonging to the ministry while the investor will remain as a tenant.

He noted that the investor has agreed to pay an annual land use fee of Sh4.36 billion after the commencement of the project and that the fee would be changing depending on economic circumstances.

“The agreement is that the project would start in June next year after the signing of a contract,” said the official.He said the government expects to increase employment opportunities through the project and that the Police Force would earn money for other development activities.

“The construction of a modern police post would help the force serve the citizenry better and the government would get more revenue from business activities at the area,” he added.
Source: Tye Citizen,http://www.thecitizen.co.tz, reported by Sylivester Ernest in Dar es Salaam
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