Governance Deficits in Dealing with the Plight of Dwellers of Hazardous Land

The Case of the Msimbazi River Valley in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Dados Bibliográficos

ID19569879
AutoresJoseph Mukasa Lusugga Kironde
Ano2016
Volume04
Fascículo03
Páginas303-328
Data de publicação2016-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCurrent Urban Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2328-4900 • E-ISSN: 2328-4919
EditoraScientific Research Publishing, Inc. (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4236/cus.2016.43021
OpenAlexW2520484920
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas8
Referências citadas5

Hazardous land is given high profile in the Tanzanian National Land Policy 1995. Subsequent land laws provide for participatory procedures to declare land to be hazardous. Public authorities have over the years been concerned about the continued living on a flood-prone Msimbazi River Valley in the city of Dar es Salaam. Despite adopting carrot policies such as allocating alternative land, and stick policies including forced eviction and demolition, sections of the population have continued to live in the Valley. Research on the ways public authorities have dealt with flood-prone areas, established that legal procedures to declare Msimbazi River Valley to be hazardous or environmentally sensitive have never been taken, and are not well-known among officials. Moreover, focus has been placed on valley dwellers instead of addressing citywide flooding. Paternalism, dealing with market failure and exerting political authority are considered to be the drivers motivating the government to evict valley dwellers. It is concluded that the approach dealing with dwellers of floodprone areas should adhere to legal provisions by, in particular, being participatory; should utilize available technology to identify, declare and demarcate hazardous land, should put this land to the badly needed greening of the city; and should address citywide flooding as a part of managing the city instead of focusing on a few individuals in a particular hazardous area

Business · Citizen journalism · Corporate governance · Environmental planning · Flood myth · Geography · Hazardous waste · Political science · Population · Public land · Public participation · Sociology · Tanzania · Disaster Management and Resilience · Engineering · Law · Public Administration · Urban and Rural Development Challenges