Dar es Salaam. If development were to be judged by the number of heavy investments especially in infrastructure, then Tanzania would be said to be on the right track—thanks to multibillion dollar projects targeting construction of new ports, expansion of the existing ones and standard gauge railways. First, there is the $10 billion Bagamoyo Port, funded by a soft loan from China, which is billed as the biggest in the region. Then there is another one to be constructed by private developers in Mwambani, Tanga, valued at $30 billion.

Another project was announced by Transport minister Samuel Sitta two weeks ago, involving the construction of 2600km of standard gauge railways at the cost of some $7.6 billion.

Yesterday, it was announced that the Dar Port will undergo a $596 million (about Sh1.1 trillion) upgrade during the next few years as the government seeks to go abreast with the increase in traffic passing through the country’s major gateway. The World Bank, the UK’s Department for International Development and TradeMark Africa (TMA) will inject a total of $596 million.

The money will be used in deepening and strengthening of berths 1-7, the dredging of the entrance channel and turning basin in the port.

The World Bank, which is currently financing the construction of infrastructure for the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit (Dart), will give Tanzania a $400 million loan to finance the port upgrade project in line with the Dar es Salaam Maritime Gateway Project (DMGP). The ultimate goal of the project is to see the Dar Port handle 28 million tonnes by 2020 from 14.6 million it handled in 2013/14.

Out of the money, the DFID will give Tanzania $136 million in a prospective grant while the remaining $60 million as a commitment from TMA.

The programme, to be implemented in two phases, was announced yesterday at the port when TMA in partnership with DFID, World Bank and Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) launched the demolition of Sheds 2 and 3 as part of DMGP. The demolition of the sheds seeks to create more space so that the port can accommodate the increase in the number of containers.

World Bank senior operations officer, Mr Monthe Bienvenu Biyoudi, who represented the bank’s country director for Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi, said the investment excludes the complimentary private investment injected in the port.

“This sum also excludes the essential investment in the access infrastructure, three access roads; the Kilwa, Nyerere and Mandela roads together with proposed Southern bypass between Dar es Salaam Port round to the airport and then to Kibaha, which the World Bank and partners will be providing in parallel,” said Mr Biyoudi. He said the World Bank board is expected to approve the $400 million loan in December.

DMGP which is expected to improve the physical capacity of infrastructure and operational efficiency of the port will be implemented in two phases under the Big Results Now (BRN) projects.

TMA director general, Mr David Stanton, said the first phase, to be funded by his organisation, will involve demolition and relocation of Sheds 2 to 7. It will also include upgrading roads that lead to Gates 4, 5 and 8 as well as installing new scanner for Gates 4 and 8.

The phase also entails introducing single traffic flow system and an integrated security system.

Source: The Citizen

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