Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE government is implementing various projects for the construction and upgrading of 400 kilometres of roads located in the country’s national parks so as to facilitate tourism activities and boost the economy.
Deputy minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Dunstan Kitandula shared this insight in the August House yesterday when responding to a supplementary question posed by Special Seats legislator, Cecilia Paresso (CHADEMA) who had wanted to know if there were plans so far to rehabilitate the road passing through Ngorongoro and Serengeti National Parks.
Responding, Mr Kitandula said that there was an ongoing project to upgrade a total of 400 kilometres roads in the country’s national parks which includes Ngorongoro and Serengeti National Parks respectively.
In March 2024, the government through the then Chief Spokesperson, Mobhare Matinyi said that it was seeking approval of UNESCO to upgrade roads inside Serengeti National Park after its earlier plan to construct a tarmac road across the park hit a snag.
The government had planned, between 2005 and 2012, to construct a 452-kilometre tarmac highway to link Arusha in northern Tanzania to Musoma on the shores of Lake Victoria but shelved the plan after a civil suit was lodged by animal welfare groups opposing the road across the Serengeti.
Earlier during his main question in parliament yesterday, Mwanga MP, Joseph Tadayo (CCM) had wanted to know when the government would start using the northern gate of the Mkomazi National Park located in Vudea, Mwanga District.
In response, the deputy minister said the government was currently at different stages of upgrading tourism infrastructures including increasing gates for visitors so as to make tourists reach at all attractions available in the national parks including the Mkomazi National Park.
“The construction of the gate for receiving visitors at the Ndea area in the Mkomazi National Park has already been completed and the 18-kilometre road connecting the national park through the gate and Mwanga District to Karamba-Ndea villages has already been opened,’’ he said.
According to Mr Kitandula, during the 2024/25 fiscal year, the government allocated 78m/- that will be spent in upgrading that road so that the road can be used in tourism activities for an entire season.
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