Xinhua reports from Tanzania that the country on Wednesday announced plans to establish an ultra-modern satellite town in an area located few miles from Arusha.
Nehemiah Mchechu, National Housing Corporation (NHC) Director General, said that the move complement government's efforts to control the increasing population in the northern safari capital of Arusha.
He said the state-run real estate body has already acquired 300 acres of land in Usa-River area which is located 15 kilometers from Arusha's Central Business District.
"We have secured the land at the tune of 5 billion Tanzanian shillings (3,125,000 U.S dollars)," the NHC director said, "This area has some important social services like water and other infrastructures."
He said experts from the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development are in the site to work on how the satellite town will look like as construction of the key facilities in the area is to start very soon.
The official said the proposed satellite town will have all the required facilities including shopping malls, residential houses, health facilities, and industrial parks, educational institutions.
However, Mchechu declined to reveal the exact amount of money needed to accomplish the project.
Arusha-based real estate experts welcomed the idea, saying the population in the tourist city is growing very rapidly, hence the proposed town will help to contain the situation as well as lowering rental fees.
"Having one or two such satellite towns will alone enhance tourism in Arusha," Arusha-based landlord Josiah Mollel said, calling on other land developers like NHC to chip in and implement such kinds of facilities in the city.
The NHC said that the project would be similar to schemes being implemented outside the South African cities of Johannesburg and Durban.
Population in Arusha is estimated to be close one million and the increasing population is fueled by the booming tourism industry, tanzanite mining and geographical location as it close to the Tanzania-Kenya border of Namanga.
There are other areas like Burka, which have been earmarked for establishing satellite towns in Arusha.
