Tanzania’s new presidential complex built by army is 200 times larger

President Samia Suluhu Hassan has inaugurated the new State House in Chamwino Dodoma on Saturday, May 20, after 30 months of its construction.

The construction of the building started in 2020, when late President John Magufuli laid the foundation stone for the commencement of the project.

The land where new state building was constructed is 200 times bigger than the State House in Dar es Salaam and will further promote Dodoma’s development as Tanzania’s capital and seat of power.

Proceedings started at dawn when various guests started to arrive at the grounds of the new seat of power from both mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.

President Samia arrived at 10:15 a.m. and was received by the Vice President, Dr. Philip Mpango, the President of Zanzibar, Dr. Hussein Mwinyi, the Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa, as well as retired presidents Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Jakaya Kikwete.

After she was received, President Samia went to the podium, where she received military honours and inspected a guard of honour.

She then went to plant a tree in front of the Chamwino State House building.

The Chamwino area was chosen by founding father Mwalimu Julius Nyerere as the spot on which the State House should be built in the early 1970s.

As opposed to the State House in Dar es Salaam, which was built by colonialists, the Chamwino State House has been constructed by the government, a task that was carried out by the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF)—the National Service Wing.

It is, however, not known how much the state used to construct the new building, which is a replica of the structure in Dar es Salaam.