The World Bank has approved up to $130 million in additional financing for the Tanzania Strategic Cities Project (TSCP) covering the eight strategically important cities of Tanga, Arusha, Mwanza, Kigoma, Dodoma, Illemela, Mbeya and Mtwara, to enable them keep up with the pace of rapid urbanization.

The TSCP, which has been under implementation since 2010 has the development objective of improving the quality of and access to basic urban services in participating Local Government Authorities. It focuses on three components:

• Core urban infrastructure and services
• Institutional strengthening
• Implementation support

Before the project began, the participating cities and municipalities had mainly dirt roads and low-levels of infrastructure investments. Since its implementation, the TSCP has achieved:

• Construction of 141km of urban roads
• 15km of major drains
• 6 bus stations
• 317 solid waste collection points
• 5 sanitary landfills.

Speaking on the development, Bella Bird, the World Bank Country Director for Tanzania, Malawi, Somalia and Burundi explained:

“Improving services in Tanzania’s medium-sized cities is critical to support the Government’s industrialization goals.  These cities play a key role to strengthen broader regional development, to connect people with markets, and provide the foundation to promote the growth of industries across the country.”

TSCP was initially financed by $175.5 million of which $163 million was from the World Bank and $12.5 million was from Denmark. The project first received additional financing in 2014 amounting to $50 million from the World Bank and $6 million from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). This is therefore the second time it is getting additional resources.

Andre Bald, Program Leader for the World Bank also explained:

“These development impacts and results are highly visible, and the design and quality of works including roads which have enhanced safety features to cater to the non-motorized traffic have set a higher standard for public infrastructure across all Tanzanian cities,”