Tanzania: Locals to be evicted to pave way for economic zone demand fair compensation
"Evictions loom to pave way for economic zone"
Plans to build a new economic zone around Kilimanjaro International Airport have run into controversy as more than 10,000 locals have vowed to stay put until they are compensated. The residents of KIA Estate said plans to compensate only 429 families with Tsh400 million ($180,000) would see many other residents displaced without alternate means of earning a livelihood, as this amount is not commensurate with the value of the investments they have made in the area. “We are not opposed to the airport project, but we were not involved in the evaluation in 2002 when agreements were concluded with executive officers of our wards,” the KIA ward councillor, Yohana Laizer, said during public hearings on the project. The hearings were organised by the Tanzania Human Rights and Good Governance Commission...
Once the evictions are completed, the estate will accommodate a duty-free shopping centre, an export processing zone, golf courses, learning institutions, Customs warehouses and a wildlife ranch. The Tanzania government hopes the portside city will attract more international flights, visitors to the Northern Circuit and cargo freighters to carry flowers and vegetable exports.