By Enyichukwu Enemanna
China has agreed to rehabilitate a decades-old Tanzania-Zambia railway transportation infrastructure, aiming to improve the easy movement of commodities in the resource-rich East Africa, Chinese state media announced on Wednesday.
China with the duo of Tanzania and Zambia signed a memorandum of understanding on the rehabilitation of the 1,860 kms Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA).
It was witnessed by Chinese President, Xi Jinping along with the leaders of the two East African countries who are in Beijing to participate in the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The single-track TAZARA railway was built between 1970 and 1975 through an interest-free loan from China.
It offers a cargo transport route from Zambia’s copper and cobalt mines to the sea on Tanzania’s coast that bypasses South Africa and the former state of Rhodesia.
Commercial operations of the line began in 1976. The multi-year project had involved the construction of two dozen tunnels and hundreds of bridges by tens of thousands of Chinese and African workers.
“China is willing to take this summit as an opportunity to make new progress in the revitalisation of the Tanzania-Zambia railway, cooperate to improve the rail-sea intermodal transport network in East Africa, and build Tanzania into a demonstration zone for deepening high-quality China-Africa Belt and Road cooperation,” said Xi, according to state media.
Heritage Times HT recalls that earlier this year, the World Bank approved $270 million in financing to help improve connectivity between neighbours Tanzania and Zambia and boost regional trade.
In February, China proposed to spend $1 billion to rehabilitate the rail line through a public-private partnership model.
