The Emirates Red Crescent Authority (ERC) opened the Abu Dhabi Residential Complex and Dubai Residential Complex in Nungwi and Pemba areas in Zanzibar region of Tanzania as part of the UAE humanitarian and developmental support to improve living standards in the region.
The development comes in response to the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and follow-up of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler's Representative in Al Dhafra Region.
The two complexes, which include 60 houses and associated healthcare, educational, electricity, water and environmental facilities, will benefit over 220,000 residents of the two areas.
In a telephone call he made to the ERC team in Zanzibar, H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan was updated on the humanitarian situation in the region and on the projects being developed there.
He urged the team to provide all kinds of humanitarian and developmental support to improve living standards there.
He said the UAE will spare no effort in meeting the developmental needs in Zanzibar, specially in the fields of education, healthcare and community services.
The opening ceremony was attended by Dr. Hussein Ali Mwinyi, President of Zanzibar in the United Republic of Tanzania, Khalifa Abdul Rahman Al Marzooqi, UAE Ambassador to Tanzania, Abdullah Al Jenaibi, Deputy Secretary General of the ERC for Marketing and Resource Development and head of the delegation in Zanzibar.
Following a tour he made to the Abu Dhabi Residential Complex in Nungwi, Dr. Mwinyi praised the UAE's pioneering role in supporting the needy people all over the world. He thanked the leadership, government and people of the UAE for the great efforts and humanitarian and developmental services offered to the people in Tanzania.
Ambassador Al Marzooqi said that since its establishment, the UAE had been extending a helping hand to brotherly and friendly nations, regardless of belief, ethnicity or language.
Mohammed Atiq Al Falahi, Secretary General of the ERC, said the development projects implemented around the world stem from the UAE's approach of mitigating the impact of natural disasters on brotherly and friendly peoples.
Al Jenaibi said the opened projects were part of the ERC's humanitarian and developmental initiatives in Tanzania.
The opened projects include 60 housing units, each with three bedrooms, a kitchen and bathrooms. The developments also include two maternity health centres, two dental clinics, outpatient clinics, two model schools, two mosques and other service facilities.
Each housing complex has 80,000 litre water tanks, a fully equipped drainage system and a link to the local electricity grid. Some 15 shops provided to local residents in each complex as additional sources of income to the needy families. There are also two mosques for men and women, accommodating 700 worshippers each.
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation