According to Tanzania Transport Minister Mr. Samuel Sitta, “a group of Chinese railway companies led by China Railway Materials (CRM) has been chosen to help build the railway line in the country for which the construction was expected to start in June”.
The Chinese consortium got the contract to build a 2,561 km standard gauge railway connecting Dar Es Salaam port to land-locked neighbours at a cost of USD 7.6 billion .
Hon. Sitta also mentioned that the group will provide 10 % of the funding for the project while financial adviser Rothschild will finalise procedures for financing of the project through banks.
According to Mr. Sitta another Chinese company, China Railway No.2 Engineering Group Co. Ltd. has been assigned to build a railway line linking coal and iron ore mine projects to the southern port of Mtwara near big offshore natural gas discoveries.
In order to become a regional transport hub Tanzania plans to spend USD 14.2 billion in the next five years on building new rail network.
