China to Lend Tanzania USD7.6b for Central Corridor Railway

China’s Exim bank will lend Tanzania USD7.6b to finance the construction of Tanzania’s standard gauge railway along the central corridor.

The railway project involves the construction of a standard gauge railway from Dar es Salaam-Tabora-Isaac-Mwanza, Tabora-Mpanda-Kalemela, Tabora-Kigoma and Uvinza-Isaac-Keza-Msongati.

The total length of the railway is 2,190 km, according to the press release published by the Government of Tanzania on July 20th 2016.

The construction process is set to start during the 2016–2017 fiscal year, the press release indicates.

Tanzania’s President Magufuli said that the Government has already allocated around USD455m to the project from the 2016–2017 budget.

He also noted that the implementation of the railway project will help lift the economy of Tanzania and its neighboring countries, including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo.

Tanzania Rail Transport

Railway transport is the second most important mode of transport after road and critical for long distance freight along the main transport corridors in Tanzania.

Currently (2016), the Tanzanian rail network comprises two main railways: the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) network of 2,600 km and the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) of 1,067 km, connecting Dar es Salaam with Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia.

The TRC mainline comprises the central corridor between the port of Dar es Salaam in the east, linking central and western areas of the country and terminating at Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika in the west.