Tanzania launches $3.1bn railway to enhance infrastructure, trade

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African governments have been racing to build infrastructure like roads, railways and bridges, though critics have questioned some of the loans taken from countries like China to fund the drive saying they are saddling future generations with debt.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan flagged off the electric train services at a ceremony in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, before boarding a train for a four-hour trip to the administrative capital, Dodoma.

Extending networks across East Africa

The $3.1bn line was built by Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi. The two sections launched on Thursday are part of a planned 2,561-km rail network which is expected to boost domestic and regional trade when completed.

Tanzania signed a $1.46bn loan agreement with Standard Chartered Bank Tanzania in 2020 to partly fund the section of stretch launched on Thursday.

"We are continuing to construct the railway up to Kigoma until we connect with the neighbouring countries so that we can improve our businesses," Hassan told cheering residents in one of the train stations on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam.

Hassan's government is also building a rail network towards the Lake Victoria port city of Mwanza and preparing to start construction of another line to Kigoma in the west to connect with Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Boosting business, trade opportunities

"This railway is going to liberate our businesses," she said at a stop in the eastern Tanzanian city of Morogoro.

Once the Burundi link is operational, the two nations expect to transport three million tons of minerals annually including nickel to Dar es Salaam's port, according to the Tanzanian finance ministry.