Flood Zones to Resilient Urban Parks

For years, slum dwellers in Dar es Salaam lived in fear of rain. With every downpour came disease, displacement and despair.

But today, Katimba breathes easier. In 2024, she was among hundreds of residents relocated to Madale, a higher-ground neighbourhood, under the $200 million World Bank–funded Msimbazi Basin Development Project. She received compensation and built a modest home in the dry, forested area about 39 kilometres from the city centre.

“We’re very happy to be here,” she said, smiling outside her new home. “There’s no floodwater to worry about. We have peace now.”

Background: A city under pressure

With a population of 5.8 million, Dar es Salaam is one of Africa’s fastest-growing — and most flood-prone — cities. Nearly 70 per cent of its residents live in informal settlements on flood-vulnerable terrain.

In 2018 alone, flooding in the Msimbazi Basin inflicted more than $100 million in damage, nearly 2 per cent of the city’s GDP, according to the World Bank.

But for the first time, the city is tackling the menace head-on. The Msimbazi Basin Development Project, running through 2028, targets the city’s lower river basin — home to 330,000 people — and seeks to transform one of Africa’s most flood-vulnerable zones into a green, climate-resilient urban park.

The initiative includes river dredging, terracing, new drainage infrastructure and a complete overhaul of the Jangwani Bridge and bus depot. Displaced residents like Katimba are being resettled on safer land with compensation.

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