Africa-Press – Tanzania. COMPANIES and individuals have booked nearly half the plots being offered for sale in National Housing Corporation’s (NHC) safari satellite city in Arusha.
The project at Burka Mateves, 13 kilometres from Arusha city, is designed to ease congestion in the tourist city and covers 587 acres.
The satellite city, lying three kilometers from Arusha airport, is offering plots for residential houses and commercial buildings as well as small industries.
The city plan also provides for educational and health facilities, sports, recreation centres and public safety installations.
The NHC Public Affairs and Information Manager, Mr Muungano Saguya, said the project has 2,118 plots, 701 of which have already been sold.
The corporation has reserved 300 plots for future development while sale of the remainder continues.
“In response to buyers’ pleas, we have lowered the price of plots from 35,000 to 21,000 shillings per square meter,” Mr Saguya said.
Buyers of residential plots can pay in monthly instalments for three years while commercial building plots may be paid for in 60 monthly instalments. NHC assists developers to process Title Deeds for purchased plots.
According to Mr Saguya, 190 deeds have been handed over to developers. “Some of them have finished construction and moved in,” he said.
The soon to be proud residents of the new city include Arusha Water and Sanitation Authority (AWSA), which is finalizing a zonal office, National Council for Technical Education (NACTE), Land Transport Regulatory Authority (LATRA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), who are mobilizing to build offices.
A Police station and Fire station are also provided for. Water and power supply are in place and the government is building access roads to service the satellite city, which lies near the Arusha bypass road.
The 511 buyers, who have not received their title deeds have signed purchase contracts and are in various stages of paying for their plots.
NHC plans another satellite city project on a 579-acre area at Usa River in Arumeru district. Similar projects are planned for Luguruni in Ubungo district (156.5 acres), Uvumba, Kigamboni district (202 acres) and Kawe in Kinondoni district covering 267.7 acres.
The public real estate developer is currently building 1,000 residential houses in Dodoma under a three-phase project to provide housing for residents of the new capital.
The first phase involves 300 houses at Iyumbu, which will be sold, and 100 houses at Chamwino for rent.
