Over the years, three presidents have succeeded each other at the helm of the country, some in favor of the project and others against it.
The project is undertaken by Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and it involves the construction of a port facility on 800ha of land with a capacity to handle 20 million cargo containers per year. It includes the construction of 34km road from Bagamoyo to Mlandizi, and 65km railway line connecting Bagamoyo to the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) and Central Railway and an industrial area. To this day, the only sign of the project in the area are some concrete pillars with the TPA stamp marking the extent of the land that has been expropriated.
Although on the part of the state, the issue of land expropriation is considered resolved, for some 2,200 residents of the area who have lost their land and villages, the issue is a field of resistance against the new port. Having been compensated for their houses on the basis of their materials, namely mud and grass, and equally undercompensated for their fields, the residents who should have already left the area refuse to leave, demanding fair compensation and a nearby relocation site. They are all fishermen and farmers, totally dependent on the ocean and nature from which they obtain everything from food to herbs for every ailment.
Their anger is not directed against the project per se, but by the false promises that accompanied its announcement and made them sign the cession of their properties: that they will become rich, that they will be moved to a nearby area and be given the keys of new houses made by concrete and bricks. Their struggle for vindication is an unequal battle against the maze of bureaucracy and the extensive corruption of the public administration. It is a battle that they are fighting without any external allies, organized by themselves in a rudimentary way. With the expropriations already done, their villages formally do not exist, they do not have the right to elect representatives of their communities, or to cultivate their land or repair their houses. Their stay in the area is illegal and by the letter of the law they themselves do not exist.
© CSIS
However, just as they do not “exist”, the port does not exist either. No work has begun and no announcement for the starting of constructions has been kept, which makes their persecution an absolute absurdity. Initially, the project was being financed by the Chinese Government through the China Development Bank. In 2014 the Oman’s General State Reserve Fund has joined the project and teamed up with China Merchants Holding International and the Tanzanian government for the development of the project.
After lots of ups and downs the first phase construction was supposed to start in 2020 and overall construction is expected to be completed in 10 years. But this never happened. The most recent announcement assured that the works will start in 2023. With only one month to go until the end of the year, it is obvious that this has no validity either.
Meanwhile, the 2,200 people who are to be displaced live in total uncertainty about their future, while those living in villages that will be “saved” have a completely blurred picture of their own. Surrounded by the industrial zone, the port and the railway, they oscillate between the fear of being excluded from fishing and farming as well and the hope that they might find work on the construction sites. The injustice suffered by their neighboring villages and the theft of their land and lives makes even the “lucky” ones suspicious of the development and equally concerned about their future.
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- : CSIS