L.Victoria Rept - UN-Habitat

Mission Statement:“Musoma Town Council is determined to become a cosmopolitan city which accommodates allpeople, provides opportunities to her people, develops economic activities, and respectsenvironmental conservation. Musoma aims to be a city without slums, with passable roads anda clean and aesthetic urban environment, and develop an information center.”C: DESCRIPTION OF THE CDS PROCESSIn accordance with the council‘s procedures, Musoma Town Council formally approved the CDSprocess and action plan following the feedback received from the representatives to the regionalworkshop. The Council set up working teams to coordinate the CDS processes and appointed acoordinator to oversee the working teams. The teams comprised of council technical staff,councillors and members of civil society. This inclusiveness enhances a multi-sectoral planningapproach and involves other partners and stakeholders.The council involved a local NGO (UMABU) in mobilizing the urban and peri-urban groups towiden the continuous stakeholders consultation process. The council organized an all-inclusivestakeholder meeting in which 102 participants drawn from urban and peri-urban centers ofMusoma attended. Participants identified and agreed on the challenges and issues facing thetown and built consensus on priority areas of action. Based on the issues and agreed areas ofpriority actions, Action Plans and Strategic Investment Plans were drawn. This process wasbackstopped by UMP and ITDG through follow-up missions to the town and through regularcorrespondence.Priority Issues Identified1. Poor solid and liquid waste managementThe Council can manage to dispose only 12% of the 19,032 tones of solid waste and only 0.4%of 1,756 million liters of liquid waste generated each year. The rest of the liquid waste remains insoak pits and septic tanks which pollutes the environment. The uncollected waste provides abreeding ground for flies, rodents and vermin, endangering human life when disease outbreaksoccur.2. The Kitaji pondKitaji is a flooding area covering 6.24 hectares. During the rainy season the families in thesurrounding area (approximately 200 households) are compelled to vacate their houses. Thearea is also a mosquito-breeding site that adversely affects 400 households in the surroundingcommunity. The council uses the pond as a solid waste-dumping site. This causes other nuisanceslike bad smell, rodent and vermin infestation and calls for the establishment of a new dumpingsite.3. Poor infrastructure servicesOut of a total road network of 146.2 km, 50% are regularly washed away or eroded during therainy season due to lack of storm drainage system, costing the council a lot of money in repairwork.4. Poor link between Musoma and Serengeti National ParkThere is no all-weather road between Musoma and Serengeti National Park, which is a distanceof 80 km away. This has hindered the growth of Musoma Town as a potential tourist attraction. Atourist circuit linking Musoma, Serengeti National Park and other parks within the region shouldbe explored.Cities Development Strategies for Improved Urban Environment and Poverty Reduction in the Lake Victoria Region63