Railway construction deal inked

ANNE ROBI

WORKS, Transport and Communication Minister, Prof Makame Mbarawa (fifth left, standing), Ambassador of Turkey to Tanzania, Ms Yasemin Eralp (fourth left, standing) witnessing the signing ceremony of the construction of the Dar es Salaam-Morogoro Railway line which covers about 300 Kilometres between Reli Assets Holding Company (RAHCO), Mota-Engil Africa and Yapi Merkezi in Dar es Salaam yesterday. Signing (from left) are; Yapi Merkezi, Country Manager, Murat Hasim Koksal, Mota-Engil Africa, CEO Manuel Antonio Mota, Yapi Merkezi, Vice-Chairman, Erdem Arioglu, RAHCO Acting Managing Director, Masanja Kadogosa, RAHCO Legal Executive Petro Mnyeshi and Mote-Engil International Railway Department Director, Mariano Tonello. (Photo by Robert Okanda)

THE government yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with two construction companies from Portugal and Turkey for the construction of a 300 km standard gauge railway line between Dar es Salaam and Morogoro worth 2.2tr/-, whose implementation is expected to commence in the next six weeks.

The railway line to be constructed using electric-infrastructure is set to spend seven-hours from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza cruising at 160 kilometers per hour - the highest compared to the rest in Africa. The train will spend 2 hrs and 30 minutes from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma. The railway-line is designed to carry 17 million tonnes of cargo per year.

The MoU signed creates a joint venture between Reli Assets Holding Company (RAHCO) with Yapi Merkezi Instaat VE Sanayi A.S ( Turkey) Mota- Engil, Engenharia E Mota-Engil, Engenharia E and Construction Africa from Portugal.

Speaking during the signing ceremony in Dar es Salaam, Minister for Works, Transport and Communication, Prof Makame Mbarawa, said the Dar es Salaam- Morogoro phase of the project will cost 1,215,282,000 US dollars (VAT included), equivalent to 2.2tr/-.

“Dar-Moro phase is part of five phases planned to be implemented to complete the SGR to Mwanza,” he said, adding that the SGR project which is the biggest infrastructure in Tanzania to be implemented. It will be completed in 30 months.

He added: “We are determined to improve transport services our country by using modern infrastructure, thus why the government has decided to construct the standard gauge railway with high speed compared to others in Africa.

” He added that the construction of the railway line will act as a catalyst for social and economic development in the country. The minister, however, insisted that the cost for the construction of railway line will not be the same in other regions due to geographical differences.

Prof Mbarawa promised to increase the budget for the construction of the railway line in the next financial year, adding that the government will also continue to seek soft loans for completing the project.

He, however, called upon transport stakeholders to turn up in large numbers to apply for tenders announced recently for the construction of another phase of the railway line from Morogoro - Makutupora 336 km, Makutupora - Tabora 294 km, Tabora- Isaka 133km and Isaka to Mwanza 248km which will be open in April, this year.

For his part, RAHCO Managing Director, Mr Masanja Kadogosa, said that the construction of the railway line will take thirty months which will include the construction of power infrastructure, six railway stations for passengers and six for overtaking and construction of a 102 kilometres fence.

Turkish Ambassador to Tanzania, Ms Yassemin Eralp, assured continued cooperation with the government in implementing the project. She also commended the fifth phase government for bringing development to its people.