Dar es Salaam City Council

About Us

Dar es Salaam city is located between Latitude 6 to 7 degrees and Longitude between 39.45 in the East and 39 degrees in the West, South of the Equator and to the West, South and North. The city borders the Coastal Region, to the East it borders the Indian Ocean, where there is a coastline with a length of 124 km from Pemba Mnazi to Mbweni.

Dar es Salaam covers an area of ​​approximately 1,800 square kilometers; of which, 1,350 square kilometers is land area including eight islands in the Indian Ocean and 450 square kilometers is sea area. The area of ​​Dar es Salaam is equivalent to 0.2 percent of the total area of ​​the country which is 881,289 square kilometers.

Weather

The city has a tropical coastal climate, with average temperatures of 25 to 33 degrees Celsius and an average rainfall of 1,000 millimetres during the two rainy seasons, which are October–December and March–May. The city is mostly dominated by sea breezes blowing from the South, East and North Indian Oceans.

Population

According to the 2012 census, the city has a population of 4,364,541, of which 2,125,786 are males and 2,238,755 are females. In addition, the population has been increasing at an average of 5.6 percent per year. The average population per square kilometer was 3,137 and the average household size is 4 people per household. With this annual population increase, the city of Dar es Salaam in 2018 is estimated to have a population of 6,107,473. This population increases the population density which is estimated at 4,383 people per square kilometer.

History of the City Council

The Dar es Salaam City Council governed the City from 1961 until 1972, when the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania dissolved all Councils in the country and placed them under the Central Government (Regional Authorities).

The Central Government restored Local Governments to the country, under the Local Government (Urban Authorities) Act No. 8 of 1982, where the City Council began to carry out its responsibilities of providing services to the citizens from 1983.

In 1996, the Central Government dissolved the City Council and formed the Dar es Salaam City Commission, by Government Announcement No. 110 and 111 of 28 June 1996.

The City Commission operated for a period of four years, when in 2000 the Government created four Local Government Authorities for the Dar es Salaam Region by the Local Government (Urban Authorities) Act No. 8 of 1982, as amended by Act No. 6 of 1999.