DAR ES SALAAM, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian education authorities said on Wednesday plans are underway to construct a state-of-the-art 44.5-million-U.S. dollar university to be named after the country's founding leader, Julius Nyerere.

The university to be known as Julius Nyerere University of Agriculture and Technology will be built at Butiama, Nyerere's the native village, Omary Kipanga, the Deputy Minister for Education, Science and Technology, told parliament in Dodoma.

Kipanga said the university seeks to transform the country's agriculture through use of technology and highly skilled manpower.

He said that the high learning institution will be built through the Higher Education for Economic Transformation (HEET) program supported by the World Bank aimed at helping strengthen the capacity and quality of selected universities to build high skilled workforce.

Kipanga was responding to a Member of Parliament for Butiama constituency, Abdallah Sagini, who had requested the government to explain when the university will be constructed.

He said preparations for the construction of the university were at the advanced stage, including acquisition of 573.5 hectares of land, preparation of a master plan, undertaking of an environmental and social impact assessment, and architectural designs. - Xinhua