Additional financing has been secured for the ongoing construction of Tanzania’s standard gauge railway (SGR) project.

The Ministry of Finance has received a US$1.46 billion loan from Standard Chartered that will be used to build a 550 km section of the country’s SGR between Dar es Salaam and Makutupora in the Dodoma region, according to the multinational bank.

The state-owned Railway Agency of Tanzania reports that Phase 1 of the 2 561 km-long SGR – 300 km between Dar es Salaam and Morogoro – is already more than 73% complete. Phase 2 spans approximately 422 km between Morogoro and Makutupora.

The railway network will connect Tanzania to trade routes with Rwanda, Burundi and the DRC, and will accommodate up to 10 000 tons of freight (the equivalent of around 500 trucks) per trip.

Construction of the SGR started in 2017 under the governmental Vision 2025 development plan, which aims to transform the nation into a middle-income country via investments in energy, transport and ICT infrastructure.

25 February 2020
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