Ilala's main economic activities include retailing businesses such as small and medium-sized shops, hotels, bars, and restaurants, transportation services, clearing and forwarding, agro businesses, medical businesses, handcraft businesses,
banking businesses, and construction businesses. These activities employ around 45% of Ilala Municipality's total population.
Infrastructure The municipal road network is 1215.66kmlong. The road network is made up of 118.34 km of
tarmac, 264.81 km of gravel, and 638.22 km of earth roads, accounting for 62.49% of the entire road network in the municipality. There was no information on road surface type per division. However, the majority of the municipal's asphalt roads are found in the Kariakoo division, whereas the Ukonga division is largely covered by earth roads. The primary mode of public transportation is the
dala dala bus. The majority of them are registered and privately owned dala dala in services with a total seating capacity of 25-32 seats. Dar es Salaam's public transportation services are unreliable, uncomfortable, and unsafe. Given the total size of the urban transportation fleet, the maximum daily passenger capacity is predicted to be 4.6 million passenger journeys per day. Ilala has three major railway services.
Tanzania Railways Corporation operates two of these, an older
Metre-gauge railway from Dar es Salaam west to cities such as
Tabora and
Mwanza. The line was originally built during British colonial administration to transport minerals and is now primarily used for freight. A newer, modern, electric
Standard-gauge railway is under construction parallel to the old line and is partially operational up to the country's capital
Dodoma.
TAZARA Railway connects Dar es Salaam with Zambia.
Julius Nyerere International Airport, Tanzania's major international airport is in Ilala as the major entrance for incoming and exiting aviation passengers in the country. Tanzania Airport Authority manages the airport.
Agriculture Farming and
livestock are another key economic activity in Ilala Municipality, employing 13% of the population. Cattle, goats, sheep, donkeys, pigs, and chickens are among the livestock kept in the municipality.
Fishing in the Indian Ocean also employs a significant number of people in the municipality. Cassava, sweet potatoes, paddy, maize, and cowpeas are among the principal food crops farmed. Cassava is the principal food crop in rural areas, where it is cooked fresh or dried for flour production. Sweet potatoes and paddy are two more food crops grown throughout the lengthy rainy season, particularly in waterlogged areas. The main cash crops farmed in Ilala Municipal Council include a range of vegetables such as amaranthus, Chinese cabbages, egg plants, okra, kale, and leek (matembele), as well as fruits such as citrus, passionate, pawpaws (papaya), pineapples, mangoes, cucumbers, and cashew nuts. Because of the city's vast population, a market for crop produce exists, and crops can be sold in various marketplaces in Kariakoo, Buguruni, Kisutu, and Chanika. Ilala Municipal Council is home to a variety of established enterprises. Medium-sized industries that process food, beverages, and
textiles are among the most important. Others include small-scale industries that dominate a variety of food and textile products. Small-scale industries include hulling and milling machines, as well as fruit processing machines, which add value to agricultural basic products.
GDP Dar es Salaam Region offers economic potentials in industrial production and business transactions, with Ilala Municipality being the most important. According to the 2007 Dar es Salaam Regional Profile, the Region contributed around 17% of the country's
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) yearly. According to the 2018 Dar es Salaam Regional Profile, the region's income climbed from
TZS 17.5 trillion in 2016 to TZS 20.1 trillion in 2017, representing a TZS 2.5 trillion or 12.68% rise. The average yearly per capita income in the Dar es Salaam region increased by 13.4% in 2017 to TZS 4,004,088.70 from TZS 3,227,593.23 in 2016.
Tourism The National Museum is the main attraction in the Ilala district. The British constructed it as the
King George V Memorial Museum in 1940. In 1963, new structures that are now part of the museum were built by
Nyerere's government. The museum houses Tanzanian historical documents, marine biology, and ethnography. The museum also houses the skull of
Australopithecus Boisei, which was discovered in 1959 in
Olduvai Gorge by the late
Dr. Leakey. There is also the Makumbusho Village, which is part of the national museum and deals with many traditional Tanzanian ethnic heritage such as culture, dances, housing, as well as other tangible qualities. The District has one forest reserve, the Zingiziwa Mangrove Forest Reserve (100.5 ha) ==Demographics==