The construction of St. Karoli Lwanga Major Seminary building Segerea which was set on fire on January 16 this year has been completed and the contractor has officially handed over the building to the Church, ready for use.
Speaking after during the handover ceremony, the Rector of the Seminary Rev. Tobias Ndabhatinya thanked God, the bishops of Tanzania Episcopal Conference, priests, the lay faithful, donor partners and people of good who supported the construction.
“As I hold the key of the building today, it shows that the construction and renovation of our seminary is completed. It is a joy and comfort to see how we have received support from various people in the Country and outside country.
In particular, Rev. Ndabhatinya thanks and appreciate Missio Aachen and Missio Austria for their generous support and cooperation which enabled the construction to be completed. He has also thanked media especially Social Communication Directorate of Tanzania Episcopal conference TEC and AMECEA who informed the world about the tragedy.
He thanks Radio Maria Tanzania, Tumaini Media and other media who have been involved in inspiring lay faithful and good-hearted people to donate to the building. He has also thanked the contractors who have built the building.
He said the construction has cost a lot of money so much that they have not not paid the contractor in full. So he asks more supports from various people so that the contractor can get his payment on time.
“Although we have been handed over this building, we have not finished paying the contractor who has also built the building with special sacrifice. So we are coming back to you requesting cooperation on the remaining amount to pay the contractor, ”he said.
The Architect David Masaka and the project manager explained that after doing an assessment of the first floor building, which was totally burned, they realized everything had new including roofs, windows, doors, floors, and some walls.
Doors and windows had to be repaired to make the floor more visible. So renovations were done from the basement. He said the building was built a while ago so they have tried to improve it to modern style.
“We thank bishops, the seminary management and seminarians for their cooperation and made our work easy. We have accomplished the renovation and new constructions in some areas for more than 96%. The building is strong with high quality ready to use. However we have installed Automatic fire alarms and an automatic fire extinguisher for the safety of the people living in,” he said.
