SAND MINING STATUS IN DAR ES SALAAM

I remember when I was a little lad we moved from a certain vicinity to another which is the home I grew up. I made a lot of friends and most of the  necessary things for the  survival of lad like me was available but only a football pitch was having less space due to a big hole surrounding the vicinity open space. I used to wonder why the big hole that was near my beautiful home occurred. Before we moved in, the local government banned the sand mining that was mushrooming in the neighborhood and stressing the environment. Unfortunately few meters from my home bared sand which was favorable and was  demanded by constructors. Due to Poor supervision and negligence of all people living around the vicinity plus local government the residential land was turned into Mining zone. By estimating the coverage of the enormous hole,  I am confident to say that tones of sand were excavated from my neighborhood and constructed homes for individuals whom I may never see in my life time and if miraculously I do will disseminate the detailed information how me and my family endured extreme environmental stress citing how worse it was when the hole left uncovered was turned into a landfill.

       Sand can be referred as loose fragmented materials which are occurring naturally which have very tiny decomposed particles of rocks coral or shells. Globally sand is generally used for construction providing bulk and strength to materials used in construction as asphalt for paving the land and tarmac but also sand provide for concrete in building. Basically sand was used during ancient era in 6000B.C to grind and polish stones to make sharpened tools and other tools used by then. The ingenious Egyptians came up with beads that are glass glazed in 3,500 B.C. From ancient era sand was a very useful natural resource; as the Nabataea Traders managed to lay small concrete and constructed rubble-wall houses which some exist till today.

  Sand mining is carried out worldwide, it involves the extraction of sand mainly through an open pit, and even more shocking from beaches inland dunes and dredged from ocean beds as well as river beds. However also sand mining is for extraction of minerals such as rutile, ilmenite and zircon. In Tanzania most of the sand that is extracted from the land, beaches and river beds is for construction purposes. Globally water is the most and the first resource that is consumed by the 7 Billion population followed by sand  as of now in the united states the sand markets stands on a billion dollar wealth entailing on the continuance of the sand mining threatening the future ecology.

    Citing Tanzania which is the developing state is still in need of much sand to fulfill its long plans of reaching at the second world arena, as flyovers, extensive roads, skyscrapers, industries, schools, institutions, headquarters and the turning of villages to civilized areas need sand on the same time in India specifically Raipur village where sand mining is a war zone people get killed when they protest and protect their natural environment form money lusting Sand Mining. Still in my country beaches are not plundered as much as  in India but necessary environmental restoring  measures are immediate places Like Kawe Ukwamani and Mbezi are likely to be environmental ground zero areas if necessary and strict measures are not employed by all of us. 100 houses have been swept away by rain as they were within the degraded  land zone and the soil was eroded such that the foundation was seen.

         Urbanization in Dar city is making the constructors to look for all possible ways to extract sand, in River mbezi youth plunder the resource in daylight from the river bed to fill their trucks which earn handsomely, this signals their urge to seek for me as the illicit natural resource trade pays to them thus they don’t care whom pays the cost when nature unleashes her wrath. I managed to come across a good number of sand heaps around shabby areas of Mwananyamala, and Ubungo being sold to any one in need of it am quite sure that the seller didn’t go through reclamation procedures, when rain comes ditches are all over. In the past 20 years areas like mwananyamala were vegetative oriented with tall coconut trees with less degradation as o present where many youth plunder the resource for money some have even sold their lands for sand miners whom benefit more than the owner. Bagamoyo have been the sole site for many sand seekers in Kiharaka Village lorries have been rushing in to queue and extract sand in unknown tones of their choice regardless of violating and defying several significant rules and laws both environmental and Legal, then rushing back to the city to be sold to Brick Making Companies which are growing not in Dar es salaam only but national wide.

      Many people in need of normal living houses don’t produce bricks at their construction site in many regions now especially in the growing urban region Dar es salaam they prefer the ready made. I  made a small research a found a very experienced sand dealer whom shared vital details  he told me ready made bricks  are sold 1500 TSH per brick  it takes 30000TSH to pay a tax fee that is implemented by the Local area Leader where sand is extracted per trip and also 30000TSH as payment to access the digging zone. It usually takes a good number of strong young men whom are paid 20000TSH in a whole some and they split equally these land degrading activities are common in Chamazi and Mbagala.

       Taking into account this fact we can trace how much sand is being plundered in areas where NEMC cant conduct surveillance. The are administrative mechanisms laid to be followed when someone is need of extracting sand, the ministry of energy and minerals issues permits to individuals qualified to extract sand but such steps are merely followed seldom many don’t even know such proceedings. Which marks a great need to disseminate extensive awareness on sand mining and the vital need to acquire a primary mining license. Our environment is fragile before the presence of cutting edge tech, and booming urbanization extensive approaches must be employed to save our river beds and ocean shorelines from money lusting plunderers. The ministry of energy and mineral  should focus more on the sand mining surveillance around the chronic areas known for extraction of sand imposing high penalties and legal actions on the culprits to show the strictness on environmental conservation , while encouraging using quarry dust as a suitable substitute for river bed and ocean sands, numerous research have came up with significant results on the use of quarry dust concrete as it is found to be having high rate of work-ability and flexible despite of that it has weakness rather than concrete with sand content, but both can be mixed to produce a required concrete. However the offshore sand can be extracted sustainably without posing danger to the coastline reducing pressure on rivers and oceans which possess favorable sand for construction. The most basic alternative that in most rural areas can be utilized well and I have bear witness in Sengerema District  is the use of an old anthill which is dug up and used to bake bricks which apparently are much stronger and cheaper than sand made bricks, evidently supports the notion on effective utilization of available resources. Still Tanzania has a chance in saving its land from extreme degradation the focus should be on sustainability mechanisms on sand extraction for the future survival, with living organism and biodiversity inclusively.