All eyes were in Dar es Salaam last week as leaders of East African Community launched construction of the East Africa’s Central Corridor railway-line that will link up land-locked countries of the region to the port of Dar es Salaam. President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi flagged off block trains to their countries from Dar es Salaam using the Central Railway line. DRC Congo President, Joseph Kabila was represented by his Minister for Transport, Justin Kalunga Mgwana Ngongo. The block trains are designated to transport exclusively, consignments directly to Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, without any interruptions or delays, according to the Minister for Transport, Samwel Sitta. The cargo will be transported directly from the Dar es Salaam Port to the borders of the respective countries where they will be received by local trains. It is projected that the time used to reach the final destination will be cut down from two weeks to just two days. And hardly had the dust settled, the government announced launching of construction of a new standard gauge railway from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma. and to begin this year. The Minister for Transport, Samwel Sitta told reporters in Dar es Salaam last Sunday that it is planned that the construction of the 2500 kilometres railway will be launched done in June this year. The new developments in the central corridor happen when regional countries are undertaking measures to free trade by Non-Tariff...

FINALLY, the government announced what we had been waiting to hear so eagerly. Transport Minister Samuel Sitta told reporters last Sunday that construction of a standard gauge railway to link the hinterland of the East African region with the port of Dar es Salaam will begin this year. The 2,561 kilometre long railway, estimated to cost 14 trillion/-, will begin at the port of Dar es Salaam and serve the landlocked countries of Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It will have spur lines to Kigali, Bujumbura and Masaka. The railway project, which is expected to be accomplished within five years, is meant to ease movement of cargo by rail, which is cheaper and carries more freight than road transportation. The announcement happened after Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi flagged off block trains to their countries from Dar es Salaam using the Central Railway line. The block trains are designated to transport exclusively, consignments directly to Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda, without any interruptions or delays. The cargo will be transported directly from the Dar es Salaam Port to the borders of the respective countries where they will be received by local trains. It is projected that the time used to reach the final destination will be cut down from two weeks to just two days. The challenges of upgrading and expanding Africa’s transport network are manifold but the rewards are enormous....

Tanzania plans to spend $14.2 billion to construct a new rail network in the next five years financed with commercial loans, the transport minister said, as the country aims to become a regional transport hub. Tanzania, like its neighbour Kenya, wants to profit from its long coastline and upgrade existing rickety railways and roads to serve growing economies in the land-locked heart of Africa. Read the original article on Theafricareport.com : Infrastructure: Tanzania to spend $14 billion on railways | East & Horn Africa Oil discoveries in Kenya and Uganda and gas finds in Tanzania have turned east Africa into an exploration hotspot for oil firms but transport infrastructure in those countries has suffered from decades of under-investment. "This will be the single biggest project ever to be implemented by the Tanzanian government since our country's independence," Transport Minister Samuel Sitta said in a statement issued on Sunday, referring to the year 1961. Sitta said the railway network would meet the huge demand for the transportation of cargo to land-locked neighbouring countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda as well as domestic needs. The projects include constructing a 2,561 km (1,536 miles) standard gauge railway connecting the port at the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam to Tanzania's land-locked neighbours, Rwanda and Burundi at a cost of $7.6 billion, Sitta said. Two additional lines, to cost $6.6 billion, would connect Dar es Salaam to the coal, iron ore and soda ash mining areas in...

DAR ES SALAAM, March 30 (Reuters) - Tanzania plans to spend $14.2 billion to construct a new rail network in the next five years financed with commercial loans, the transport minister said, as the country aims to become a regional transport hub. Tanzania, like its neighbour Kenya, wants to profit from its long coastline and upgrade existing rickety railways and roads to serve growing economies in the land-locked heart of Africa. Oil discoveries in Kenya and Uganda and gas finds in Tanzania have turned east Africa into an exploration hotspot for oil firms but transport infrastructure in those countries has suffered from decades of under-investment. "This will be the single biggest project ever to be implemented by the Tanzanian government since our country's independence," Transport Minister Samuel Sitta said in a statement issued on Sunday, referring to the year 1961. Sitta said the railway network would meet the huge demand for the transportation of cargo to land-locked neighbouring countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda as well as domestic needs. The projects include constructing a 2,561 km (1,536 miles) standard gauge railway connecting the port at the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam to Tanzania's land-locked neighbours, Rwanda and Burundi at a cost of $7.6 billion, Sitta said. Two additional lines, to cost $6.6 billion, would connect Dar es Salaam to the coal, iron ore and soda ash mining areas in the south and northern parts of the country, he said. Sitta said the...

The Presidential Roundtable in Dar es Salaam gave the Central Corridor, linking Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Dar es Salaam port, the much-needed impetus as regional leaders renewed their commitment to an agreement to improve the infrastructure and facilitate access to the sea for land-locked countries. The industry and investors’ forum was co-chaired by Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, and discussed action East African Community member states must take to ease the movement of goods by improving the port, road and rail services. The main nodes of the Corridor are the port of Dar es Salaam, road network, rail and ferry infrastructure, and border crossings at Kobero/Kabanga (Tanzania-Burundi), Rusumo/Isaka (Tanzania-Rwanda) and Mutukula (Tanzania-Uganda). The Central Corridor is one of the region’s two main transport corridors. The other is the Northern Corridor linking Mombasa port in Kenya to Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan by road and railway. Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete promised to minimise, and finally eliminate non-tariff trade barriers to ease trade and to develop the infrastructure at the port and along the Corridor. The meeting was also attended by Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Pierre Nkuruzinza of Burundi. Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta was represented by Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed and DRC’s President Joseph Kabila was represented by Minister for Transport Justin Kalunga Mgwana Ngongo. To signal its commitment to easing transportation of goods within the Central Corridor, Tanzania has recently launched block trains that transport cargo direct...

Reports that the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) has passed a law aimed at compelling member states to eliminate trade barriers and end protectionism is long overdue. It is quite worrying that despite the good intentions of the East African integration some of the partner states have been guilty of hindering smooth trade relations between them. It is our utmost hope that the Elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers Bill, 2015, sponsored by the Council of Ministers and passed by the assembly will be assented to by the heads of state so as to ensure that integration within the bloc becomes a reality rather than mere talk. As stated by the Council of Ministers, the non-tariff barriers that exist in the countries that form the East African Community should be eliminated for the integration process to succeed. We concur as it would be an exercise in futility for the bloc to pass a law that is not enforceable within the borders of a partner state. The proposed law will bar the member countries from imposing any new trade barriers while seeking to identify and remove existing hurdles. We have stated before that the only way a conducive trading atmosphere can be created in the region is if all members read from the same script and avoid actions that only hamper local and regional production. Following the launch of the Common Market Protocol in 2010, many expected the transition to be smooth. However, this has not been the case as internal disputes have...

Next month, Indonesia will be hosting the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference. According to Indonesian President Joko Widodo, the commemoration aspires to remind the world that Indonesia played a significant role in the anti-colonial struggle. Amidst complex contemporary global politics, it will be a challenge for Jokowi to convince the world that this Asia-Africa gathering is necessary and relevant. Institutionalizing effective cooperation between the two continents should be a priority. Ten years ago, Indonesia hosted the Asia-Africa Conference golden jubilee, out of which came the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP). At that 2005 summit, Asian and African leaders agreed to revive the 1955 Bandung Spirit, whose one aim was to advance cooperation between the two continents. The NAASP expanded the form of Asia-Africa engagement from merely non-aligned and anti-colonial rhetoric to broader cooperation. Since then, there have been several projects and programs under the NAASP banner, from diplomatic training and technical cooperation to a business forum. Nevertheless, the NAASP receives little in the way of either public attention or political will. Does the NAASP really boost Asia-Africa relations? That is unclear. Certainly, interactions between Asia and Africa are growing, especially on economic matters, but they do not appear to be driven by the NAASP. Asia and Africa currently lack any formal institutional links, despite the long-standing rhetoric of Asia-Africa solidarity. This is in contrast to Asia’s relations with other continents, which have been developed in institutions such as the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and the Forum...

TANZANIA Ports Authority (TPA) management has pledged to modernise and make Dar es Salaam Port more competitive, to effectively serve countries in the East, Central and Southern Africa. The Authority’s Acting Director General, Mr Awadh Massawe, made the promise in Dar es Salaam just after the visit of presidents Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and Paul Kagame of Rwanda at the Port, recently. “The Port has continued to be a major entry hub for our country and our neighbours,” he told journalists over the weekend. Armed with data and statistics, the Director General said that in 2014, Dar es Salaam Port served 630,000 tonnes of cargo for Rwanda compared to 213,000 tonnes served by Mombasa port for the same country. Tanzania also served 1,500,000 tonnes of cargo for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) while Mombasa had only 437,000 tonnes of cargo for DRC during the same period. According to Massawe, the statistics and experience indicate how neighbouring countries have their confidence and faith in Dar Port following major transformations that are still ongoing. He said that no container or any kind of cargo has been lost in the past three years. “These positive changes have started to bear fruits,” he said, adding that the average waiting time for ships to offload is one and a half hour compared to 28 hours in the past seven years. Dar port serves seven neighbouring countries which include DRC, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi and Zimbabwe. TPA board Chairperson, Prof Joseph Msambichaka said: “35...

KAMPALA - The minister in charge of general duties in the Office of the Prime Minister, Prof Tarsis Kabwegyere has advised government to do a teacher exchange program with neighbouring Tanzania. Bring in Tanzanians to teach Ugandans Kiswahili, and send Ugandans there to teach the natives English, he suggests. If this is done, the minister sees more Ugandans learning Kiswahili and hence breaking the kind of communication barriers that may come in the way of Ugandans fully benefiting from regional integration. "Kiswahili is a language of communication in the integration process and it is urgent that every East African learns it,” Kabwegyere said at a stakeholders' conference on the end of the Ministry of East African Community Affairs (MEACA) capacity-building project this week. “Because to be competitive and gain greater good in the process, Ugandans need to learn the language urgently.” He pointed out that Uganda is the only country among other East African Countries with the smallest percentage of people that can speak Kiswahili fluently. "The language is very relevant and we need to learn it urgently in order to break communication barriers with other East African countries. But we are slow because ignorance is holding many Ugandans back." “But the faster we learn it, the more we shall enjoy the benefits of the integration.” Although taught in many schools in Uganda, many locals are skeptical about adopting Kiswahili, with several associating the language with the army, police and crime-related activity. “It’s a language thieves use to rob people....

Heads of State of countries implementing Central Corridor transport projects have been urged to adopt delivery systems that will ensure timely completion of identified projects in their respective countries. The call was made by Omari Issa, Chief Executive Officer of the President’s Delivery Bureau’s (PDB) which oversees implementation of the Big Results Now (BRN) in the country. Speaking at the Central Corridor Development Acceleration Programme’s Presidential Roundtable event in Dar es Salaam yesterday, he said, Tanzania has made beyond expectation achievements with less budget in the first year of implementation because of the BRN’s discipline which emphasises on prioritisation of frameworks that are rigorous and continuous monitoring and problem solving. The discipline has been useful in addressing emerging challenges, hence, has enabled the country to make significant strides in each national priority area, including transport projects. Specifically, Issa remarked that the implementation of critical Central Corridor projects in Tanzania which are currently being tracked and monitored under BRN has yielded significant results. These include port rehabilitation, reinvigoration of the central railway line, critical roads and energy projects along the corridor, he said. Government leaders from the Central Corridor countries indicated their interest to adopt Tanzania’s BRN Delivery Methodology in the transport sector in order to fast-track implementation on all fronts. Launched in January 2014, the Central Corridor Acceleration Project, aims to see that railway, road, marine and air routes link the landlocked countries of Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo with Dar es Salaam. While fasttracking infrastructure...