Tanzanian President John Magufuli, has on Monday laid the foundation stone for the construction of a new library worth 40 million dollars, at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), the biggest of its kind in Africa.
He said the project, wholly funded by the Chinese government, had come at the right time as the government was working hard to improve the country’s education standard.
Magufuli said the library, once completed, would be a state-of-the-art facility on a space of 20,000 square metres and accommodating over 800,000 books.
“The planned mega-library will also be able to accommodate 2,600 university students at any one time.
President Magufuli said his government had been providing 9.4 million dollars every month to fund free education.
“Increased enrolment into primary schools has left us with challenges of shortage of classrooms and desks.
“We request education stakeholders to keep on supporting the government,” he said.
Jakaya Kikwete, former Tanzanian President, who is the chancellor of the UDSM, at the ground breaking ceremony expressed his appreciation to the efforts by the Chinese government to fund various development projects in the country.
Lyu Youqing, the Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania, commended Tanzania’s efforts towards the promotion of its economy which grew at high rate in the last 10 years.
He commended President Magufuli’s speedy transformation of the country, which aimed to fulfill the Development Vision 2025 that would see the country developing into a middle class economy.
Source:sundiatapost.com
