Tanga — TANGA: EACOP has handed over 339 houses as replacement of housing project at Songakibaoni Village in the Muheza, Tanga Region.

The EACOP General Manager, Tanzania Branch Wendy Brown said on Tuesday that the replacement housing programme and their ancillary structures have been a cornerstone of the company's commitment to households affected by the land acquisition process.

"We are proud to have collaborated with local contractors in the construction process, empowering the communities we serve and ensuring the highest quality construction for those impacted by the pipeline project," said Ms Brown.

The EACOP in Tanzania has handed over a total of 339 houses to 293 physically displaced project-affected persons across eight pipeline-affected Kagera, Geita, Shinyanga, Tabora, Singida, Dodoma, Manyara and Tanga spanning 21 districts and 102 Villages.

Of these 339 replacement houses and their auxiliary structures, 43 were handed to project-affected persons affected by the early land acquisition for the main camps and pipe yards last year in Missenyi, Muleba, Bukombe, Nzega and Singida Districts.

The 296 houses were for households affected by the pipeline route land acquisition covering 1143kilometres across eight regions.

The handover of the last replacement house concludes the long journey of the land acquisition process for the crude pipeline section in the country.

In Tanzania, 344 of 9904 project-affected persons were physically displaced, and of these 293 selected replacement houses and ancillary structures as their preferred form of compensation.

The housing package comprises a 5000-litre water tank as well as a 400-watt solar array, complete with 200 ampere-hour battery, inverter, and charger controller.