DAR ES SALAAM, 7 January 2021 – Tanzania on Thursday signed a $1.32 billion contract with two Chinese firms selected to build a section of the new standard-gauge railway network.
The Chinese firms are China Civil Engineering Construction (CCEC) and China Railway Construction Company (CRCC).
The firms will build a railroad 341 kilometers (211 miles) long from Mwanza to Isaka.
Refurbishing Tanzania’s Railway Network – Source SkyScraperCity
Tanzania’s foreign minister Palamagamba Kabudi confirmed the sealing of the deal as his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, arrived Tanzania for a 24-hour official visit.
Tanzanian President John Magufuli won a second term in office last October, promising to upgrade the nation’s infrastructure.
Over the last three years, Tanzania has sealed deals worth nearly $12 billion to upgrade railway infrastructure.
Source: The China Africa Project
The biggest project to upgrade 2,560 kilometers of railway has secured an estimated at $7.6 billion in funding.
The project will link the port city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s economic capital, with Mwanza, Kigoma, Katavi and the neighboring land-locked countries of Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda.
In 2017 and 2019, Tanzania signed a $3 billion deal with Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi Insaat VE Sanayi AS to build more than 700 kilometers of high-speed railway from Dar es Salaam to Makutupora in the center of the country.
