This comes just weeks after Tanzania signed a $7.6 billion (about Sh16 trillion) loan agreement with the Export-Import (Exim) Bank of China for upgrading the railway line.

 

Transport permanent secretary Leonard Chamuriho told BusinessWeek last week that process of contracting a contractor for the project has started and the ministry expects to announce in the media next month.

 

"As soon as we announce the procurement of a contractor we expect to continue with evaluation and other procedures related to the project," he said. The project involves construction of a 2,190-km railway line and is expected to be a catalyst for speeding up development in the country.

 

President John Magufuli is on record as having been quoted saying that the construction will commence within the current financial year (2016/2017), with the government setting aside Sh1 trillion in the current financial year as initial cost of the project.

 

Meanwhile, a BusinessWeek understands that the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication has been tasked with a responsibility of preparing a proposal to know whether or not Tanzanians experts have the capacity to produce concrete and sleepers for the standard gauge.

 

A source, privy to the topic told BusinessWeek that the report on the issue is expected to be tabled before the ministry next week. According to him, the government was currently looking at its options on what procedure to be used for the standard gauge.

 

The team is also looking at the possibility of upgrading the existing rail infrastructure or construct a completely new one. It is expected that the standard gauge railway line will improve regional trade links as well as increase the economies of Tanzania and its landlocked neighbours including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

 

It will also reduce transport costs within the countries where the railway line with reach.

 

Tanzania becomes the second country in East Africa to constrict a standard gauge railway line. Kenya is currently constructing a similar railway line.

 

Source : allafrica.com