The Government has said there would be no demolitions unless houses stood on ground reserved for roads, schools, hospitals or open spaces.

The Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Development, Capt John Chiligati, told parliament in Dodoma yesterday that towns and cities had over 70 per cent unplanned settlements because of the slow rate of surveying new plots.

It was not that there were no master plans, he said, but surveying new plots and areas was hampered by a lack of resources.

The minister also said the government has identified various weaknesses in municipal councils, which in turn led to unplanned settlements.

They included failure to enforce by-laws governing town planning, shortage of skilled manpower and outright corruption among land officials.

However, he said his ministry would assist the councils to prepare master plans, urging them to speed up the rate of surveying plots so as to reduce the expansion of unplanned settlements.

He was responding to question asked by Chake Chake MP, Fatma Maghimbi (CUF) who wanted the government stop demolishing houses in unplanned settlements.

Capt Chiligati told the House that the Government was duty bound to oversee proper town planning and settlement according to the required standards.

However, the Government would demolish houses if they stood on land needed for infrastructure development such as road construction, railways and power lines.