A $2.2 billion railroad construction agreement was just struck between China and Tanzania.
Tanzania’s borders with its neighbors are intended to be crossed by the train route. By 2026, the project is expected to be completed.
Tanzania and China have just completed their partnership agreements to construct the last segment of the Standard Gauge Railway line connecting Tanzania with some of its neighbors. Samia Suluhu Hassan, the president of Tanzania, was present to witness the signing of the $2.2 billion agreement on Tuesday. The Chinese firms CCECC and CRCC and the Tanzanian government inked the agreement.
As additional projects are planned to expand the railway line to Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, and Uganda, the 2,561-kilometer network that has been developed will connect the port of Dar es Salaam to Mwanza on Lake Victoria. The completion of the railway is scheduled for 2026, 9 years after work began, according to the president of Tanzania at the signing ceremony.
“Upon completion of the SGR, Tanzania will be in a better position to utilize its strategic geographical positioning to facilitate cross-border trade,” she said. She also disclosed that, with the most recent contract included, the project’s total cost to date is $10.04 billion, or Sh24 trillion. “We have to borrow for this important infrastructure and other sustainable development projects because we don’t have enough local resources,” she stated.
For residents of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo who move goods to and from both countries, the railway connection was proposed to reduce logistics costs. According to the president, there would be a minimum of $2000 savings in the cost of freight transportation, which is generally around $6,000 per tonne. Furthermore, in 2027, the amount of time required for transporting by truck would decrease to 30 hours.
Tanzania recently discovered prospects for partnerships with East Asian nations. The nation and China inked more than a dozen agreements last month. They also collaborated with South Korea in the same month to expand their tech sector.
