Dar casino, paper homeless as Mbowe evicted from building

Commonly referred to as ‘Bilicanas’, the structure, probably one of the famous historical sites in downtown Dar es Salaam, houses the famous entertainment spot and Free Media Limited, the publisher of the daily Kiswahili newspaper ‘Tanzania Daima,’ and other MHL offices.

 It is owned by National Chairman of Chadema, Mr Freeman Mbowe. The eviction from the building, situated on plot 725-726/11 along Mkwepu and Indira Gandhi (Makunganya) streets in the Central Business District, started early yesterday morning and was undertaken by a court broker, Fosters Auctioneers and General Traders.

 It was not easy for the employees as they were seen in total disarray, watching helplessy as their equipment was being carted away from the building under maximum supervision from the police who later left the scene after they were satisfied that the exercise was going on smoothly.

NHC Debt Recovery Manager, Japhet Mwanasenga, told reporters that the housing corporation decided to effect the eviction after failure by MHL to settle the huge and long standing debt.

 “MHL is among major defaulters; we will act on all tenants who owe us, including government institutions,” Mr Mwanasenga remarked.

According to the official, the space that was occupied by the company, including the famous Club Bilicanas, will be leased to other interested tenants. On the other hand, the Managing Director of Fosters Auctioneers, Mr Joshua Mwaituka, said the NHC was empowered to evict, confiscate and auction the property of defaulting tenants.

 Mr Mwaituka explained further that the eviction exercise followed all required procedures, including issuance of notices. “At first, the NHC issued the company with a 30-day notice and we (as court brokers) issued a notification for additional 14 days which expired.

 The equipment will be auctioned if the company fails to make payments in the next fourteen days,” he stated. MHL was among seven tenants residing in the building, but it had a lion’s share of the property as it occupied 1,390.75 square metres, translating into 71.2 per cent of space of the structure.

Available information indicates that the company started occupying the building in 1973 after it was relocated from the then Splendid Hotel at the current site of the Extelecoms Building along Samora Avenue.

 The building is among structures nationalised by the government through the Building Acquisition Act of 1971 and placed under the then Registrar of Buildings, the predecessor of NHC.

Investigations by this newspaper have revealed that NHC and MHL have been at loggerheads for years following a failure by the latter to fulfil its obligations stipulated in shoddy joint venture agreement entered by the two parties in 1997.

On February 16, last year, the state-owned housing corporation wrote to MHL notifying it on its intention to terminate the re-development and co-ownership agreement on the property.

Sources have confided to this newspaper that the housing corporation issued a notice of termination after MHL failed to respond and sign a revised draft Joint Venture Agreement, which was sent to the company on January 18, 2015.

MHL had on several occasions tried to purchase the building in vain but even after it entered into the joint venture agreement with NHC, it failed to make good on pledges to expand the structure.

 The company had pledged to construct an ultra-modern international multi-purpose function hall by renovating the old backyard and renovating the right wing into an international standard casino and upgrading the left wing into a two-storey 100-room international standard hotel, among others.