Tanzania to construct a US$ 15bn rail network

Tanzania is set to construct a US$ 15-bn new rail network that will see the country’s transport infrastructure improve as and help in their objective of becoming a regional transport hub.

Tanzania transport Minister Samuel Sitta confirmed the reports and said: “This will be the single biggest project ever to be implemented by the Tanzanian government since our country’s independence.”

The development will include construction of a 2,561-km standard gauge railway that will see the connection of the port at Dar es Salaam with Rwanda and Burundi. The cost of this section has been estimated as US$8bn.

Part of other works will include construction of two railway lines that will join Dar es Salaam to the coal, iron ore and soda ash mining regions in the South and North, which will cost US$7bn.

This mega rail project will see Tanzania’s port of Dar es Salaam competing with its neighboring country Kenya’s own port of Mombasa. In East Africa, the two ports are the major gateways to the area where fuel, tea, coffee, consumer goods and other necessary imports and exports are transported. South Sudan and the Great Lakes region also benefit from these ports.

By 2020, Tanzania is aiming to raise the capacity handled by the port of Dar es Salaam from 14.6m tonnes a year to 28m tonnes.