PM wants Njalu to be demo school

PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa has inspected various projects in Itilima District, including the construction of Njalu Secondary School directing that it should be a demonstration school.

The Premier issued the directives on Friday evening while addressing Kimali villagers shortly after inspecting the construction of the school and laid a foundation stone for the project.

“The construction of this school should not end with classrooms and administration buildings only; it also needs dormitories for girls and boys, a dining hall, sports grounds, teachers’ houses and later on it should accommodate advanced level students,” he said.

The school has been built by funds from Itilima District Council and to date it has six classrooms with capacity of accommodating 45 students each.

Speaking about electricity, Mr Majaliwa said the government has set aside 30bn/-, stressing that the government’s intention to electrify villages has not changed.

Earlier, the PM launched a food warehouse for Ikindilo Village which aimed at fighting aflatoxin.

Briefing on project execution before the Premier, Project Manager, Engineer Mohamed Kombo said construction of the warehouse started on August 9, 2021 and was completed on February 15, 2023.

According to him, the project is funded by Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Central Government.

“The aim of the project is to provide education on food storage and control aflatoxin in order to reduce its effects to the consumers,” he said.

Moreover, he noted that the construction is completed by 100 per cent, adding that the contractor has handed over the project to the Itilima District Council and has started a one-year defect liability period.

Eng Kombo also noted that, the Ministry of Agriculture, through the Tanzania Initiative for Preventing Aflatoxin Contamination (TANIPAC) project, is in the final stages of purchasing equipment for  the warehouse  and laboratories, including storage bags, an Aflatoxin screen-kit, a moisture meter, a desktop computer.

He added that the equipment is expected to be delivered to the project at the end of May this year. He said the project was allocated 990.5 m/- and the contractor has already been paid 850m/- which is equivalent to 86 per cent to date.

“The actual construction cost will be known after the inspection and final payment after the inspection period is completed (Final Account).