ARUSHA NAMED TANZANIA'S CLEANEST CITY

You may find it strange but Arusha, whose streets still leave a lot to be desired hygienically, has been named the cleanest city in the entire country. The Northern Zone's metropolitan center was awarded for its new status during the National Environment Day 2015 which was staged in Tanga Region this year. The accolade was presented to the City Council Director, Alhaj Juma Idd by the Vice President Dr Mohammed Gharib Billal.
A truck collecting trash from Arusha’s streets. (Photo by Raymond John).		Boma Road, one of the cleanest roads in Arusha.(Photo by Raymond John)
City Director, Alhaj Idd, revealed earlier on here that Arusha has managed to unseat Mwanza, in the Lake Zone, from the top spot in 2015. Last year, Arusha city took the second position and previously third. Mwanza, on the other hand, had been topping the bill for the past six years which means the idea of losing the coveted position to Arusha is bound to hurt.  Awards for cleanest urban centres come in four categories depending with status, Arusha, Dar-es-Salaam, Mwanza, Tanga and Mbeya compete under the cities’ slot, while the rest are graded within Municipal Councils, District and Town Councils. For many years Moshi remained the cleanest Municipal Council but it is still not known if the headquarters of Kilimanjaro region has maintained its top hygienic status this time again.  The Arusha City Director, Alhaj Idd, said among the criteria which pushed the urban center onto the winning spot is the greenery factor: “Here we do not grant building permits for both residential and commercial premises until we are satisfied that the applicants have planted at least five fully thriving trees on the intended construction site,” he pointed out.  Arusha produces a total of 410 metric tons of garbage per day, with the City’s daily waste yielding rate being estimated to be over two kilogram per household, in addition to the refuse pooled in from factories, hotels and other business outlets in town.  Until late last year, the City council was only capable of collecting and disposing 60 per-cent of the local waste load. This means only around 245 metric tons of garbage could be collected in town within a day leaving some more mounds of garbage weighing over 165 metric tons lying around the vicinities.  Authorities however are reporting that this problem has also been resolved but could not explain to what extent.  Arusha has spent 25.7 Billion/- from the World Bank in revamping the city infrastructure including roads, streets and bridges under the Tanzania Strategic Cities Project (TCSP) initiatives.

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