By Edward Qorro, Arusha
THE East African Community (EAC) Secretariat has heaped praise on Tanzania's progress and pace in the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway and Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project (JNHPP).
EAC's Deputy Secretary General in charge of Planning, Infrastructure, Finance and Administration, Engineer Steven Mlote described the country's pace as 'unbelievably good'.
In a telephone interview with the 'Daily News' on Monday, the Deputy Secretary General said Tanzania's progress in the two projects was quite impressive, worth emulating by other five partner states.
"These are massive investments, but the EAC is quite impressed with the tremendous work done by the country in implementing them, just under five years," he said.
Engineer Mlote who was referring to recent field visits of the two projects, gave an account of the notable progress in drilling works for tunnels, building of bridges and placement of culverts along the Makutupora-Kilosa line.
The progress encapsulated Tanzania's determination of having the two projects up and running, according to the EAC Deputy Secretary General.
"As you drive along the highway and visit the Julius Nyerere Hydro Power Project, you can see the sheer hard work put forth by the men and women working there," Engineer Mlote explained.
Tanzania's success in constructing the two projects was a strong statement that none of the EAC partner states was poor, according to the EAC Deputy Secretary General.
"It is not the question of money, what matters is how every penny is channeled and spent on every project."
At approximately 550 kilometres long, the SGR project is one of the country's biggest projects connecting Dodoma to Dar es Salaam via Morogoro and Makutupora.
Once complete, the SGR Rail project will provide a safe and reliable means for efficiently transporting people and cargo to and from the Dar es Salaam Port.
According to the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC), it is expected that the railway will address current congestion challenges and decrease freight service charges by 40 per cent, as the railway will be able to haul up to 10,000 tonnes of freight, equivalent to 500 lorries, per trip.
It will also connect Tanzania to Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, thereby playing a key role in enhancing regional trade.
On the other hand, built on Rufiji River, the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Station whose gross output stands at 5,920 watt-hours (Wh), is expected to more than double the country's power generation capacity, upon commissioning.
The 2,100 Megawatts project is currently under construction along the Selous Game Reserve.
Its ground work started in mid last year and it is expected to be commissioned in 2022.
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