Tanzania has decided to halt what was to be, upon completion, the largest port in East Africa. The Tanzanian Ministry for Works, Transport and Communications said that the construction of the US$10bn Bagamoyo port was stopped mainly because it needed more attention, a lot of planning and a major source of funding.
The port was expected to handle 20 million containers a year, compared to Mombasa’s 600,000 and Dar es Salaam’s 500,000 containers. Tanzania chose to focus on improving the capacity and efficiency of the other two; Dar es Salaam and Mtwara ports.
The Tanzanian Minister for Works, Transport and Communications, Prof Makame Mbarawa said: “I do not want to reveal too much details or plans by the government on the Bagamoyo project. What I can say is that we are currently concentrating on the Dar es Salaam and Mtwara ports.”
The World Bank has agreed to fund the facelift of berths 1 to 7 and talks are ongoing to finance construction of berths 13 and 14. The government hopes to commence the refurbishment this year and complete by 2018.
