Tanzania,Central railway project Soon start running Now

The railway is expected to boost the performance of the port of Dar es Salaam in particular and the national economy at large.According to a statement released by State House in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the Chinese-funded $6.8 billion railway construction project is set to start immediately after China’s ambassador to Tanzania, Dr Lu Youqing, expressed his country’s commitment to the funding in talks with President John Magufuli.“It is our belief that this particular project will lead to economic transformation, not only in our country but in other East and Central African countries including Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo,” the statement quoted President Magufuli as telling the Chinese envoy.He added: “That is why we don’t want to waste time with long discussions, we want work to begin so that the people benefit.”

In response, Ambassador Lu said that work on the project would commence in accordance with the set rules and stipulated construction standards.
“We will do it in time, at high quality yet reasonable cost,” the Chinese envoy pledged.

In its bigger railways investment strategy, Tanzania plans to spend a total of $14.2 billion to construct a new national railway network financed with commercial loans.

Last year, the then transport minister Samuel Sitta described it as “the single biggest project ever to be implemented by the Tanzanian government since our country's independence."

According to Sitta at the time, the main aim was to position the country as a regional transport hub by meeting the huge demand for cargo transportation to land-locked neighbouring countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, as well as cover domestic needs.

The project as a whole includes the building of a standard gauge central railway line connecting the port of Dar es Salaam to Rwanda and Burundi, while two additional lines (costing $6.6 billion) will connect Dar es Salaam to the coal, iron ore and soda ash mining areas in the south and northern parts of the country, Sitta said.

He added that the project was supposed to be financed by commercial loans from a consortium of banks under a 20-year repayment period, though he did not name the banks.

Tanzania, like its northern neighbour Kenya which has already embarked on the construction of a standard gauge railway, wants to profit from its long Indian Ocean coastline by upgrading the existing rickety roads and railways network to serve growing economies in the land-locked heart of Africa.

Oil discoveries in Kenya and Uganda and gas finds in Tanzania have turned East Africa into an exploration hotspot for international oil firms, but the transport infrastructure in the East Africa Community (EAC) member countries has suffered from decades of under-investment.