Tanzania has signed a $2.2-billion contract with Chinese companies China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) to build the final section of the Standard Gauge Railway line aimed at linking the country with its neighbours in the West.
The 2,561-kilometre network will link the port of Dar es Salaam to Mwanza on Lake Victoria, with eventual spurs to Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who witnessed the signing, said the construction of the 506 km final section of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from Tabora to Kigoma would be completed in 2026, nine years after it began.
President Samia said Tanzania’s investment in the SGR had now reached $10.04 billion or Sh24 trillion, including the latest contract.
She said the new railway would reduce cargo transportation costs between the Dar es Salaam port and the DRC from a minimum of $6,000 per tonne to about $4,000 once it becomes fully operational.
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