A Comparison Analysis of Social Service Provision and Accessibility in Regularised Settlements in Tanzania

Abstract

Social service provision and accessibility play a great role in ensuring city development in both developed and developing countries with emerging economies, Tanzania inclusive. This paper provides a comparative study onthe situation, arguments and criticisms of three planned neighborhoods, whereby in those cases, local communities were involved in settlement up- grading through land regularization in Tanzania. The discussion centered oncomparing the social infrastructure service provision and the levels of accessibility of neighborhood residents to roads, waste disposal, water and electric- ity supply. Similarly, the paper highlights the role of neighborhood leaders in ensuring social service provision, accessibility levels, reasons for connections, and the correlation between source of water and electricity supply as well asinferential statistics for the effects of the land regularization on the access tosocial services. We find that local leadership determines provision and accessibility of infrastructures in an area where informal settlement upgrading project takes place. Location differences of neighborhoods and proximity to the infrastructure service influence business growth, home improvement, ser-vice payments, and residents’ mindset change in the neighborhood land development processes. We also found that conditions set for provision of social services include: availability of permanent building structure, land ownership, affordability level, household agreement, offering land for public use and freedom from the road reserve. Local Authority sets guidelines for service provision and helps meet with the local community and thus, shows the recognized role of community involvement in settlement upgrading projects. Furthermore, the role of planning institutions and differences is highlighted.The study concludes that community involvement and local leadershipchampionship in informal settlement upgrading are vital elements for the success of the program and towards ensuring development control, coordination and sustainability once the project ends.