Tanzania and China have signed investment deals to build a $1-billion satellite city and $500-million financial centre in Dar es Salaam.
Five deals, worth over $1.7 billion, will go toward developments in infrastructure, power distribution, real estate and business cooperation, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said on Friday. These deals mark China’s growing economic presence in Tanzania, which has made major natural gas discoveries off its southern coast.
The satellite city and financial centre are joint projects by the China Railway Jianchang Engineering Company Ltd (CRJE) and Tanzania’s state-run National Housing Corporation.
The satellite city, on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, will be a self-contained urban zone equipped with water, electricity, roads, banks, schools and hospitals.
In recent years, Chinese companies have signed deals to build a new port, rail network and a 532-km natural gas pipeline. Between July and September 2014, Chinese investments totalled $534 million, compared with $124 million during the same period last year.
Kikwete said he hoped to boost Tanzania’s exports to China. From 2012 to 2013 Tanzania’s imports from China totalled $1.099 billion, while Tanzania’s exports to China totalled $495.74.
By: Reuters
http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/tanzania-signs-investment-deals-with-china-worth-over-17bn-2014-10-24
