Chapter Four explains the existing economic infrastructure in Mwanza city council. It covers the road network development in terms of road classification, type of road surface and passability. It also covers railways, air and postal services including radio and television facilities. In the energy sector developments in regards to hydro-electricity, biogas, solar energy, fuel wood and fossil fuels are discussed.
As indicated in Table 4.1, road network for Mwanza city councilin 2015was about 577 kilometer. Trunk road constitutes 30 kilometer(5.2 percent) of the regional network. The district /council roads constitute 547 kilometer (94.8 percent).
Buhongwa ward had the largest road network with the total length of 47 kilometers and Mirongo ward being the least with 9.5 kilometers. Unfortunately the council had neither regional nor feeder roads.
Table 4.1 Length of Road Network by ward (in km) Mwanza City Council, 2015
Ward
|
Type (in km) |
||||
Trunk |
Regional |
District/Urban |
Feeder |
Total |
|
Buhongwa
|
4 |
- |
43.0 |
- |
47.0 |
Lwanhima*
|
0 |
- |
35.0 |
- |
35.0 |
Mkolani
|
2 |
- |
42.3 |
- |
44.3 |
Luchelele*
|
0 |
- |
39.5 |
- |
39.5 |
Butimba
|
2 |
- |
33.4 |
- |
35.4 |
Nyegezi
|
1 |
- |
32.6 |
- |
33.6 |
Igogo
|
3 |
- |
22.3 |
- |
25.3 |
Mkuyuni
|
1.5 |
- |
23.9 |
- |
25.4 |
Pamba
|
1 |
- |
25.7 |
- |
26.7 |
Nyamagana
|
2 |
- |
26.5 |
- |
28.5 |
Mirongo
|
0 |
- |
9.5 |
- |
9.5 |
Isamilo
|
2 |
- |
27.3 |
- |
29.3 |
Mbugani
|
1 |
- |
13.2 |
- |
14.2 |
Mabatini*
|
3 |
- |
15.3 |
- |
18.3 |
Mahina
|
2 |
- |
39.8 |
- |
41.8 |
Mhandu*
|
1 |
- |
37.2 |
- |
38.2 |
Igoma
|
4 |
- |
38.8 |
- |
42.8 |
Kishiri*
|
0.5 |
- |
41.8 |
- |
42.3 |
Total
|
30 |
0 |
547.0 |
0 |
577.0 |
Percent
|
5.2 |
0 |
94.8 |
0 |
100 |
Source: Compiled data from CityExecutive Director’s office, 20
Out of 577 kilometers road network of Mwanza city council only 36.92 kilometers (6.4 percent of the road network) is tarmac. The 128.25 km (22.2 percent) are gravel road and the remaining 411.85 km (71.4 percent) are earth roads. Tarmac and gravel roads make up only 28.6 percent of the network henceforth there is no any close affinity between road worthiness and tarmac/gravel surfaces, it can generally be said that only28.6 percent of the region’s road network is passable throughout the year. (Table 4.2)
Table 4.2 Length of Road Network by Type of Road Surface by ward; Mwanza city Council; 2015
Ward
|
|
|||
Tarmac |
Gravel |
Earth |
Total |
|
Buhongwa
|
0 |
6.5 |
41.53 |
48.03 |
Lwanhima
|
0 |
4 |
33.98 |
37.98 |
Mkolani
|
0.53 |
8.55 |
33.22 |
42.3 |
Luchelele
|
3.27 |
10 |
28.23 |
41.5 |
Butimba
|
3.5 |
7.5 |
22.38 |
33.38 |
Nyegezi
|
2.2 |
2.5 |
27.87 |
32.57 |
Igogo
|
2.2 |
6.5 |
13.56 |
22.26 |
Mkuyuni
|
0.5 |
4 |
19.43 |
23.93 |
Pamba
|
7.09 |
10.5 |
13.15 |
30.74 |
Nyamagana
|
9.03 |
2.5 |
14.97 |
26.5 |
Mirongo
|
2.15 |
1 |
6.3 |
9.45 |
Isamilo
|
5.75 |
8 |
13.55 |
27.3 |
Mabatini
|
0 |
8.5 |
11.78 |
20.28 |
Mbugani
|
0.7 |
1.8 |
10.71 |
13.21 |
Mahina
|
0 |
13.5 |
26.26 |
39.76 |
Mhandu
|
0 |
9.5 |
32.72 |
42.22 |
Igoma
|
0 |
15.2 |
28.59 |
43.79 |
Kishiri
|
0 |
8.2 |
33.62 |
41.82 |
Total |
36.92 |
128.25 |
411.85 |
577.0 |
Percent |
6.4 |
22.2 |
71.4 |
100 |
Source: Compiled data from CityExecutive Director’s office, 2016
Mwanza region is served by the central line railway system that connects Mwanza with Tabora, Kigoma and Dar es Salaam. The importance of the Central Railway system to the region is felt in hauling agricultural and industrial goods to and from the region. Goods transport from the region is to a great magnitude dominated by cotton. This smears for all the railway stations within the region. Railway station within MwanzaCity council which serves embarking and disembarking is Mwanza Town Station where passengers are also ferried by this Central Railway System. The information provided by Tanzania Railway Limited shows that a total of10,232passengers used the line while as much as 446 tons of cargo was ferried.
Mwanza region is well served with marine transport. Public marine vessels are the major carriers of both passengers and cargoes destined for the neighboring lake zone regions - Kagera and Mara. There are also marine transport facilities connecting Mwanza lake port with other lake ports of Kenya and Uganda. There are private marine vessels also mainly ferries which move passengers to and from Sengerema landing ports to Mwanza city, Ukerewe landing port and Mwanza City. However, Mwanza city council is served by one station known as Kamanga which ferried 784,762 passengers in 2015 and 172,800,000 tons of cargoes.
Mwanza City council enjoys internet and telephone services (both cellular phone and land line based telephone services) and postal services.The council is very fortunate as it has 6 radios and 2 television stations transmitting from Jembe FM, Mwanza City Radio Fm, Sauti Fm, Passion Fm, Lake Fm,Cloud Fm,City Tv and Barmedas Tv. Famous Tanzania local television channels Star Tv, Independent Television(ITV),Channel Ten, Clouds TV, Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) all these can be accessed. The council has also 4 internet cafes, 1 post office and 4 sub-post offices.
Besides land lines provided by TTCL, Mwanza city has a very good network for private mobile phones, including Tigo, Vodacom, Airtel, Zantel, Halotel and TTCL Mobile.Whereas Halotel has the highest average coverage in the council (100 percent) followed by Tigo (84 percent) and Airtel (68.5 percent). Other mobile companies including TTCL mobile, Vodacom and zantel were not able to specify their coverate rates.
Energy is a prerequisite for proper functioning of nearly all sectors in the economy. It is an essential service whose availability and quality determines success or failure of development endeavours. The main sources of energy in Mwanza city council are electricity, gas, paraffin, solar, firewood and charcoal. Electricity is commonly used in urban and rural areas.
Electricity supply stimulates development, both social and economic. It improves ease and generally improves the quality of life.Electricity supply in the council is not yet stable and faces a number of problems such as intermittent power supply, low voltage, rationing, and outages. In one way or another, these problems affect production of goods and services in the council. Table 4.3 shows different type of customers supplied electricity by TANESCO in 2011, 2013 and 2015. Number of institutions connected with electricity in the council increased from 20 in 2011 to 21 in 2013 and 2015. Number of domestic installation increased from 9,121 customers in 2011 to 15,751 in 2013 and reached 26,667 customers in 2015 while commercial segment of customers was constant for three year in 2011, 2013 and 2015 with 152 customers. However for the three years 2011, 2013, 2015 number of institution customers was 0.1 percent of the total customers, Domestic 99 percent and commercial 0.9 percent.
Table 4.3 Number of Customers using/connected to Electricity; Mwanza City council; 2011 – 2015
Year
|
No. of Customers
|
|||
Institution |
Domestic |
Commercial |
Total connected
|
|
2011 |
20 |
9,121 |
152 |
9,293 |
2013 |
21 |
15,751 |
152 |
15,924 |
2015 |
21 |
26,667 |
152 |
26,840 |
Total
|
62 |
51,539 |
456 |
52,057 |
Percent
|
0.1 |
99.0 |
0.9 |
100.0 |
Source: Mwanza City Council,TANESCO’s Office records,2016
The 2012 population and housing census collected information on households’ main source of energy for cooking. The information serene indicates the access and availability to modern sources of energy for cooking in the city coucil. Results show total number of 75,659 households use different sources of energy for cooking. Most of the private households use charcoal as source of energy for cooking (81.68 percent), followed by firewood (11.8 percent). Paraffin accounted for about 2.1 percent whereas electricity and gas was 1.7 respectively percent while other sources like solar and other sources accounted for less than one percent each. (Figure 4.
Figure 4.1 Number of Private Households by Main Sources of Energy for cooking, Mwanza City Council, 2012 Census
Barabara ya Balewa
Sanduku la Posta: 1333,Mwanza
Simu: +255 28 250 1375
Simu ya Kiganjani: 0755741738
Barua Pepe: cd@mwanzacc.go.tz
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