WB approves USD213m to support Tanzania

Colin Bruce, Director, Strategy and Operations, Africa Region, World Bank

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors yesterday approved USD213m to support the government’s efforts to rehabilitate roads and bring HIV/Aids and road safety services to people along the Dar es Salaam Corridor.

“Well-functioning access to the maritime ports of Tanzania and Mozambique is essential for trade movement and economic prosperity, especially for the landlocked countries in the region (Zambia, Malawi and the DRC),” said World Bank Director of Strategy, Operations and Regional Integration in the Africa Region, Colin Bruce.

According to the WB’s information made available to The Guardian, “This project will improve intra trade among the countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, but will also smooth the way for increased global competitiveness, market integration and poverty reduction for the countries in the region.”

The new financing package consists of a USD210 million credits and USD3 million grants from the International Development Association (IDA), the Bank’s fund for the world’s poorest countries.

The financing will support the First Phase of the Southern Africa Trade and Transport Facilitation Programme (SATTFP), a regional multi-sector programme designed to facilitate trade integration in Eastern and Southern Africa by supporting institutional, social and physical improvements along the North-South Corridor (NSC), which extends some 3,900 km from Dar es Salaam in to Durban.

Within the SATTFP framework, each country will sequentially design and implement suitable interventions.

“Transport costs along the corridor are some of the highest in the world, requiring almost seven days for the 2,000 km trip by road from Dar es Salaam port to Lusaka in Zambia,” said World Bank Country Director for Tanzania Philippe Dongier.

“This funding will help to refurbish Tanzania’s most significant trade route and provide much needed assistance to improve efficiency at border crossings,” said Dongier



To help speed border crossings, the project supports the establishment of a One-Stop Border Post on the Songwe/Kasumulu border crossing with Malawi, one at Vigwaza, and two others at locations to be determined. The project will also boost Tanzania’s efforts to provide road safety and HIV/Aids and health services.

“While the incidence of HIV among adults in Tanzania has declined slightly from an estimated 7.1 percent in 2001 to 5.6 percent in 2009, there is still an acute need for improved HIV mitigation activities along the Dar es Salaam Corridor,” said WB task team Leader Richard Humphreys.

“The project will help to improve health services and safety education to address the significant HIV risk brought by transient workers,” said Humphrey.

The WB’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing loans (called ‘credits’) and grants for projects and programmes that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN