No progress has been made on a directive by the Government to excavate the early man's footprints at Laetoli in Arusha Region to enable the public to view them.
Archaeological experts who were at the site on Friday said they were not happy that the oldest known footprints of human ancestors remained out of sight after they were reburied in the 1990s.
Dr Audax Mabula, a senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of Dar es Salaam, said President Jakaya Kikwete once directed that the footprints be excavated for the public to view.
He told a media team which visited the site that he was a member of the committee of experts assigned to consider the plan, but no progress has been made so far on the proposal.
"We are still awaiting a decision from above," he said, hinting that various archaeological experts within and outside the country may have to be consulted on the matter.
The site at Laetoli, some 40 kilometres from the Ngorongoro Crater, gained worldwide fame from the late 1970s when Dr Mary Leakey discovered 3.6 million years old hominid (early man) footprints on the rock bed near a river.
In the 1990s, the rare imprints on a 20-metre long rock trackway were re-buried on the advice of scientists from overseas in order to protect them from erosion as well as wild vegetation.
Although the replica of the original cast is on display at the Olduvai Museum, the measure generated opposition from some quarters with experts divided.
But when he visited the area a few years ago, President Kikwete expressed his concern that the archaeological relics were buried instead of being exposed for the public to view.
Accounts from the area say the president suggested that a monument be constructed at the site from where the footprints should be displayed in order to attract more visitors and tourists.
"The president tasked a team of experts to exhume them for the sake of tourism and studies on human evolution," one official explained.
But Dr Mabula, a long-time researcher in the area, admitted that no conclusive decision has been made on the Government plan, apparently because consultations have to be made with various stakeholders as well as lack of funds.
A visit to the remote site on Friday indicated that the famous footprints remained buried underground near a new structure constructed by the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority to serve as an information centre.
Residents of the area said they were not amused by the grave-like structure where the hominid footprints have been preserved and instead suggested they be kept in a museum so that Tanzanians can view them and attract more tourists.
Mr Larashamba Laldgam, 70, said the footprints could lose their meaning if they remained buried. He added that increased visitors to the area could generate funds which can be spent to improve the lives of the local people.
After its discovery in 1978 by Dr Leakey, the trackway remained exposed but was in 1995 covered with a fine silicone rubber and buried with the assistance of scientists from Getty Conservation Institute of Los Angeles in the US.
Critics say reburying the world's oldest hominid footprints was not a best option to preserving them because they could not be seen by visitors and other interested parties.
Both the Laetoli and Olduvai Gorge sites are within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area whose officials support the government's plans to expose the footprints for public view.
Dr Charles Musiba, a Tanzanian palaeoanthropologist teaching at the University of Colorado in the US supported the plan to erect a special Museum to serve as a display centre for the historical relics.
"A fully-fledged museum could be part of a walking safari trail for tourists," he pointed out. Other experts favour cutting out the entire track from the area and installing it in a museum at Arusha or Dar es Salaam.
Paleoanthropology experts believe that the Laetoli hominid (early man) footprints were some of the major milestones in the studies of human evolution.
Laetoli and the adjacent Oduvai Gorge currently attract about 50,000 visitors, mostly from overseas, a year.
