NEW KAPIRI-MPOSHI, Zambia – The Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) is still a good investment 40 years after its construction by the Chinese. This is despite its present dilapidated condition that has adversely affected operations and diminished efficiency.
“The three governments namely China, Tanzania and Zambia are still discussing together on how best to bring the railway line to life and make it run profitably. Although it may take some time to arrive at lasting solutions to the challenges facing the railway,” Yang Youming, the Chinese Ambassador to Zambia said last week hosted by senior TAZARA officials.
TAZARA is managed by the Tanzania-Zambia Railways Authority and runs from Dar es Salaam to Kapiri-Mposhi in north east Zambia. Yang said TAZARA is a viable venture that still has an important role to play in the future economic development of Tanzania and Zambia.
Former Tanzania President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere campaigned passionately for the 1860 kilometre line. It was built with Chinese financial and technical aid to give landlocked Zambia an alternative to export its copper and limit dependency on then Apartheid South Africa. TAZARA still ranks as one of sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest infrastructure projects, although at the time in the mid-1970s Western governments and multilateral financial institutions shunned the idea.
Ambassador Yang said there was a bigger role for TAZARA to play in future, not only in social economic development, but also in terms of the relationships amongst the states of China, Tanzania and Zambia as well as in the relationship between China and Africa as a whole.
The Ambassador was on touring New Kapiri-Mposhi, accompanied by retired Professor Yang Jiemian from the Shanghai Institute for International Studies. The delegation took a ceremonial 20km test-ride from New Kapiri-Mposhi to Luanshimba. Much of last year, TAZARA was been plagued by lack working capital and industrial unrest.
Ambassador Yang said  the Chinese government was still discussing with the Tanzanian and Zambian governments on how best to revive TAZARA and make it operate profitably. Ambassador Yang said he is optimistic that a lasting solution to the many operational challenges the railway firm was facing would soon be found.
Prof. Yang said the Chinese government attached great value to the symbolic importance of TAZARA. Prof. Yang who led a five-man team of experts said TAZARA was a symbol for the realization of the China, Zambia and Tanzania co-operation. The professor further disclosed that the team of International Relations experts was visiting Kapiri-Mposhi to have a feel of the line and get acquainted with operational challenges.  
Prof. Yang said should the Zambian and Tanzanian governments wish to have trains with the same speed or faster than those trains in China, the Chinese people and government would be ready to do whatever the two nations ask them to do for TAZARA. Chinese contractors are already building a new Standard Gauge Railway along Tanzania’s Central Corridor.
Source: East Africa Business Week

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