· The Finance Ministry of Tanzania has announced the signing of an MOU with Burundi to build a $900 million railway to connect the two nations.
· The 282-kilometer (175-mile) line from the western Tanzanian town of Uvinza to Burundi’s capital Gitega is part of Tanzania’s goal of building a 2,561-kilometer railway network to boost regional trade Finance and transport ministers from the two countries signed the deal in Tanzania.
The Finance Ministry of Tanzania has announced the signing of an MOU with Burundi to build a $900 million railway to connect the two nations. The 282-kilometer (175-mile) line from the western Tanzanian town of Uvinza to Burundi’s capital Gitega is part of Tanzania’s goal of building a 2,561-kilometer railway network to boost regional trade Finance and transport ministers from the two countries signed the deal in Tanzania.
The joint statement issued said that the project will reduce transportation costs, fast-track industrialization and improve the overall regional economy. The railway line once completed has the capacity to carry more than a million tons of cargo between the two East African countries. It is expected to transport more than 3 million tons of minerals from Burundi to Tanzania each year, the statement said. Tanzania’s Finance Minister Mwigulu Nchemba said that both the partners are also looking for financial backers for the project.
According to the agreement, Tanzania will construct a 156-kilometer section from the small town of Malagarasi to Uvinza, while Burundi will construct a 126-kilometer stretch to Gitega. Apart from Burundi, the rail would also connect the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam with the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Rwanda and Uganda. Tanzania plans to build 2,561 kilometers of standard gauge railway lines linking its main Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam to eastern and southern Africa’s hinterland. Already Construction of the first 1,219 kilometers phase, connecting Dar es Salaam to the city of Mwanza in northwestern Tanzania on the shores of Lake Victoria, has started. Recently Tanzania signed a contract with Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi to build the latest section of that line, a 368-kilometer stretch.
