Dar es Salaam (ILO News) The ILO in collaboration with the Ministries of Works and Infrastructure Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar are conducting a two weeks training workshop on soil and watershed management in design, construction and maintenance of road Infrastructures in Iringa from 06 to 17 May 2019.

As part of the training, the 30 representatives from the two Ministries, Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS), Tanzania Rural and Urban Roads Agency (TARURA) and Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) are being trained on soil and watershed Management related to design, construction and maintenance of road Infrastructures. The training is intended to attend to the increasing demand from road users and regional authorities for practical interventions to curb the problem of water run-off from upper catchment to the roads and from the roads to lower catchment areas disposed to lowest natural course without causing much damage and interference to inhabitants at the respective areas.

Among the areas covered include roads and the environment, strategies for reducing effects of climate change on roads and strategies for watershed management. In her presentation on improved roads for sustainable development, Eng. Dr. Veronica Mirambo from TARURA emphasized on the need to take into account environmental parameters during road construction projects. These include, those on ecology (acquatics and terrestrial), physical-chemical (land and surface/ground water and atmosphere) and human parameters (health, aesthetic and socio-economic). She further reiterated that,

“…Mitigation of possible adverse impacts inherent to a construction of a road must start during the planning phase of a Road construction project…”

Participants were also taken through the national policies, Acts, Guidelines, and Regulations that support Environmental Management in Tanzania including - the National Environmental Policy, 1997, the Environmental Management Act No. 20, 2004, and the Environmental Impact Assessment and Audit (EIAA) Regulations, 2005 and its Amendments of 2018 which provides procedures and requirements for undertaking ESIA for various types of development projects. Others are the Environmental Code of Practice for Road Works, 2009 and the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 2003 covering the health and safe environment for road workers. Adhering to the relevant ILO standards on safety and health was also emphasized.

Commenting on the training, Ms. Anna Komba, Environmental Specialist, TARURA, Iringa Municipality, said “…The knowledge gained will be very appropriate and useful for the participants as themselves and the registered community groups will use it during undertaking their day-to-day roads rehabilitation and maintenance works…”.

Mr. Dampu Ndenzako, National Project Coordinator EIIP, briefed participants on the EIIP project activities in Tanzania which is targeted at ensuring that pro-poor investment policy, strategy and programmes address rampant unemployment and social protection deficits in target areas and contribute towards poverty reduction, social welfare and wealth creation.

Mr. Ndenzako said  “…This project is key towards creating and promoting employment among the youth, women and vulnerable groups through enhancing employment and procurement policy frameworks while promoting participation of local communities in economic engagements through enterprises development…”. He added that the project also builds on the ILO thematic area on environment and green jobs which partly enables the implementation of employment and social policies in support of national commitments on climate change.

Other areas covered during the workshop include road drainage, roads and the environment, soil erosion control measures, water harvesting and conservation and soil and water management practices and use of vetiver system in soil erosion control.

The EIIP project is part of a 5 years (2017-2021) programme, Inclusive Growth, Social Protection and Jobs Programme (IGSPJ, funded by the Irish Government, with an overall goal of ensuring that governments use well designed and managed social protection measures and employment promoting approaches to the delivery of public investments. Other countries participating in the IGSP programme include: Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Vietnam.