FINALLY AFRICAN COURT SH. 61bn HEADQUARTER PROJECT SET FOR TAKE OFF

 

BY GRACE MACHA IN ARUSHA

Finally, the construction of the Sh. 61billion headquarters of the African Court on Human and People's Rights (AfCHPR) is set to start.

A Chinese contractor to undertake the massive project was last week handed over the site at Laki Laki area on the outskirts of Arusha.

Construction will be undertaken by CRJE (East Africa) Limited from China. Major civil works will be completed in 24 months (two years).

The total cost of the project is Sh. 61 billion, of which Sh. 9 billion has been raised by the host nation, Tanzania, AfCHPR officials said.

"The rest of the funds will be mobilized by the Court from other partners," they said as the 24 hectare land was handed over to the contractor.

The handover stage of the construction site not only elated the President of the pan African Court Lady Justice Imani Aboud but also came as a relief to her staff members.

"We have been waiting for this for 16 years. We have been yearning for this", she said at the site, some 13 kilometres from Arusha city centre.

Lady Justice Aboud, the former Judge of the High Court of Tanzania, lauded the Tanzania government "for the generous support given to us".

She described the multi-million dollar headquarters project as one of the major projects ever to be undertaken by the Arusha-based legal facility.

She said the new headquarters of the Court would provide comfort to  the 150 plus staff of the judicial organ of the African Union.

"We are happy that the Tanzania government has fulfilled its promise. We appreciate the host government for offering land", she went on.

Between 80 to 90 of over 150 staff of the Court are professionals in legal services while the rest are support staff, a significant number of them from Tanzania.

The site for the proposed seat of the Court sits close to another high profile judicial organ; the UN Tribunal that has been trying suspects of the Rwanda genocide.

The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals  IRMCT) or the Mechanism will, however, close shop shortly at the end of its mandate.

Speaking at the event, the Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation permanent secretary Samuel Shelukindo said the new Court headquarters will be a state of art facility.

"It will meet all the requirements of an international court. The government will ensure the construction timeframe is observed", he said.

In June last year, the Tanzania Parliament contributed $1.4million (approximately Sh 4 billion) for the project implementation.

Construction of the AfCHPR seat is one of the measures being taken by the Tanzania government to support the pan African court as a host nation.

The continental judicial organ relocated to Tanzania way back in 2007 when the latter decided  "to provide it with the best working conditions".

Ever since, the Court has been operating from a building belonging to the Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa) along the Dodoma road.