Zanzibar Urban Water Distribution Facilities Improvement Project, Tanzania

TARGET GROUP: PUBLIC

OBJECTIVES

·        To provide safe and stable water supply services in the Project area, Urban West Region in Unguja Island (Welezo West Zone, Welezo High Zone and Migombani West Zone), Zanzibar, through development and renewal of water supply facilities, thereby improving the living environment of the area.

SUMMARY

Tanzania is a United Republic formed by Tanganyika (mainland) and Zanzibar (archipelago). Zanzibar has its own judicial system, legislation, and administrative autonomy and has its own President, separate from the Government of Tanzania. The government organization in Zanzibar, the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar (RGoZ) has established its own long-term development plan “Zanzibar Vision 2050 (2020)”, a five-year development plan “Zanzibar Development Strategy (ZADES, 2020–2025)”, and a budget plan. Zanzibar's largest island, the Unguja islands’ public water system began its operation in the 1920s during British rule. The RGoZ took over the operation in 1963 when Zanzibar gained independence. In 1982, RGoZ started providing water service free of charge as part of social protection policy. This lead to financial difficulties of RGoZ which made them unable to expand and renew its water supply facilities. With frequent leakage due to aging pipes, the quality of service has dropped significantly, for example with reduced supply hours and low water pressure. Under the Water Act established in 2006, the management of the public water system was transferred from the RGoZ to the Zanzibar Water Authority (ZAWA), and water service once again became a paid service in 2007 under ministerial order (Water Regulations, 2007) of the Ministry of Water, Energy and Mining (MoWEM), the supervisory authority for ZAWA. The Urban West Region, which has the largest population in Unguja, has a high annual population growth rate of 4.3% (2012 population census), and the population of the region is predicted to reach 1,311,000 in 2037 (preparatory survey by JICA). As the population grows, water demand is expected to further increase, but Zanzibar relies on groundwater for its water supply, so it has no accurate data on the amount of available water resources and does not know its potential pump capacity.

REFERENCE

https://www.jica.go.jp/english/news/press/2021/fp4rrb000000sh8g-att/ZJizenENG.pdf