Tanzania has signed an agreement to link its SGR to Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
This is a blow for Kenya as it had hoped to link the SGR from Mombasa to Kampala and other East African nations.
According to the East African, transport ministers from the three countries signed the agreement last week.
Burundi and DRC will have a direct connection to the Dar-es-Salaam port with the first phase expected to cover 240km. The stretch begins in Kigoma, North-western Tanzania, into Msongati region in Burundi and extended into eastern regions of DRC.
Isack Kamwele, Tanzania’s minister for transport, said that each country will finance their portion of the SGR.
Once complete, the Tanzanian SGR will run from Dar es Salaam to Lake Victoria covering 1457km and estimated to cost $6.5 billion (Tsh14 trillion).
Tanzania’s SGR line will, on completion, stretch for 1,457 km from Dar es Salaam to the shores of Lake Victoria.
The new agreement boosts Tanzania’s ports while providing Burundi and DRC lower import and export costs. Furthermore, Tanzania signed an agreement with Rwanda for 575km extension into Kigali.
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