Michenzani is a large neighbourhood of

Ng'ambo Ng'ambo (literally, "The Other Side"; sometimes also referred to as the "New City") is one of the two main parts comprising Zanzibar City, the capital of Zanzibar, the other being the historical Stone Town. Ng'ambo is much larger and more modern ...

, the more modern part of

Zanzibar City Zanzibar City or Mjini District, often simply referred to as Zanzibar (''Wilaya ya Zanzibar Mjini'' or ''Jiji la Zanzibar'' in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of two administrative districts of Mjini Magharibi Region in Tanzania. The district co ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. It is located just across Creek Road, that separates the historical part of the city,

Stone Town Stonetown of Zanzibar ( ar, مدينة زنجبار الحجرية), also known as Mji Mkongwe ( Swahili for "old town"), is the old part of Zanzibar City, the main city of Zanzibar, in Tanzania. The newer portion of the city is known as Ng'ambo ...

(to the west) and Ng'ambo (to the east). The place is mostly known for the ''

Plattenbau (plural: , german: Platte + Bau, lit=panel/slab' + 'building/ construction) is a building constructed of large, prefabrication, prefabricated concrete slabs. The word is a compound of (in this context: panel) and (building). Such buildings ...

ten'', i.e., the large apartment blocks that were built here in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the aid of

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

History

The Michenzani neighbourhood gained its fame during the 1970s, when an

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

plan was started in Ng'ambo by Zanzibari revolutionary government, with the aid of

. A complex of "

ten" (apartment blocks constructed from large, prefabricated concrete slabs) was built in Michenzani as well as other areas of suburban and rural Zanzibar. The buildings are different sizes, with the tallest having seven floors and the shortest four floors. As a consequence of the construction process, some buildings comprise different parts with a different number of floors each: for example, block #7 is partly five floors and partly seven floors high. Despite being the tallest public buildings in Zanzibar, no lifts were installed and all the flats are only accessible by stairs. The Michenzani apartment blocks used to be the pride of revolutionary

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

; despite this, virtually no maintenance has been made after the 1970s, so the buildings are now in a state of decay. Lack of water pressure makes water services unavailable from the second floors up. As a result, many residents have installed their own water pumps, which are not in keeping with the original style of the buildings. Some of the apartments were renovated in 2010, giving them a fresh coat of paint.

References

{{coord, 6.16526, S, 39.19880, E, type:landmark_region:TZ-15, display=title Zanzibar City Geography of Mjini Magharibi Region