Tanzania launches US$3.1 billion railway in drive ...

Tanzania launches US$3.1 billion railway in drive to boost infrastructure

Reuters - Tanzania on Thursday launched a 541-km modern standard gauge railway running between its administrative and commercial capitals, built by a Turkish firm as part of a government drive to improve transport infrastructure.

The US$3.1 billion line was built by Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi. The two sections launched on Thursday are part of a planned 2,561-km rail network which is expected to boost domestic and regional trade when completed.

Tanzania signed a US$1.46 billion loan agreement with Standard Chartered Bank Tanzania in 2020 to partly fund the section of stretch launched on Thursday.

"We are continuing to construct the railway up to Kigoma until we connect with the neighbouring countries so that we can improve our businesses," Hassan told cheering residents in one of the train stations in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam.

Hassan's government is also building a rail network towards the Lake Victoria port city of Mwanza and preparing to start construction of another line to Kigoma in the west to connect with Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo.

"This railway is going to liberate our businesses," she said at a stop in the eastern Tanzanian city of Morogoro.

Once the Burundi link is operational, the two nations expect to transport three million tons of minerals annually including nickel to Dar es Salaam's port, according to the Tanzanian finance ministry.