Karimjee Hall, one of Dar es Salaam’s historical landmarks. PHOTO | FILE
By Lucas Ligangam The Citizen Chief Reporter
(email the author)
Posted Monday, August 19 2013 at 08:59
Posted Monday, August 19 2013 at 08:59
In Summary
“It isn’t surprising that civil discontent is
growing,” Ms Annika Seifert, an architect, researcher and author said in
an interview with The Citizen over the weekend.
Dar es Salaam. A German architect living in
Tanzania has expressed concern over the demolitions that have been going
on in Dar es Salaam in the last 10 years, saying the city was very
close to a point of no return because it will have rid itself of
features and characters that gave it its identity.
“It isn’t surprising that civil discontent is
growing,” Ms Annika Seifert, an architect, researcher and author said in
an interview with The Citizen over the weekend.
She said from traditional Swahili houses and
colonial buildings to the beautiful architecture of Uhindini and early
post-independence structures, historical buildings in Dar es Salaam tell
the remarkable story of a nation going from precolonial through
colonial to post-independence times.
“Their historical significance is not only defined
by their architectural beauty and cultural richness but equally by
their history,” said Ms Seifert. She added that these buildings have
great potential for the citizens’ identification with their city, for
cultural tourism and, not least, for the real estate market.
“Prominent examples like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur
and many others have shown very successfully how to benefit from
sustainable heritage management, on the long run,” said the architect.
Ms Seifert suggests that the obvious first step
would be to move from the demolitions to preservation of the various
historically significant buildings held in trust for the Tanzanian
people by government authorities, the National Housing Corporation (NHC)
and municipalities.
“Secondly, the legislation needs improvement; the
existing list of protected buildings is incomplete and enforcement
procedures are unclear,” she said.
Thirdly, Ms Seifert said, public authorities
should establish incentives like compensations or tax reductions for
private owners willing to preserve architectural heritage.
She said in a booming city like Dar es Salaam it
would be too easy to blame individual property owners for selling their
plots to often foreign investors who are willing and able to spend
millions in real estate development.
However, unlike in most other cities, a majority
of Dar es Salaam’s historical buildings is managed by public bodies like
the government itself or the NHC.
The architect said where private owners might not
be expected to put the general welfare over their individual profit,
Tanzanian citizens should have the right to ask exactly that from their
government and its institutions.
“What the city has witnessed over the past ten
years resembles a sellout of the city’s historical assets for the sake
of short-term profit while the public is left behind with an
overstrained and semi-dysfunctional city centre comprised of high-rise
buildings of often alarming poor quality,” she said.
She said Dar es Salaam was a city of roughly 1,500 square
kilometres, adding: “Other more easily accessible zones outside the
historical centre lend themselves to dense real estate development to
host the growing economy and thriving businesses of the country.
At the same time concepts for the re-use of old
buildings and investment strategies for the refurbishment and
maintenance of historical fabric can be developed, said Ms Seifert.
, adding that it will be crucial to involve the general public as well as to create awareness for public bodies.
She said the Architectural Association of Tanzania
was currently establishing DARCH, a Centre for Architectural Heritage
in Dar es Salaam.
Contracted by the ministry of Finance and funded
by the European Community the project intends to pool capacities for the
conservation, research and documentation of historical architecture in
Tanzania.
“Committed individuals and civil society
initiatives are encouraged to address DARCH with concerns and ideas. At
this point citizens shouldn’t wait for authorities to solve the matter,”
said Ms Seifert.
source: The citizen
source: The citizen
