President Dr. Samia Witnesses the Signing of the Contract for the Construction of SGR Tabora – Kigoma
The President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Mr. Samia Suluhu Hassan witnesses the signing of the contract for the construction of the modern railway – SGR phase two, the first section Tabora – Kigoma Ikulu in Dar es Salaam, December 20, 2022.
An agreement has been signed between the Director General of the Tanzania Railway Corporation – TRC Masanja Kadogosa and the Executive Director of ‘China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation’ (CCECC) Tanzania Mr. Zhang Junle on behalf of CCECC’s joint venture with ‘China Railway Construction Corporation’ (CRCC ) of China.
The contract involves the construction of 506 kilometers of modern railway from Tabora to Kigoma where 411 kilometers of main line and 95 kilometers of alternating lines, 10 passenger stations and two (2) large freight stations Uvinza and Katosho for a period of forty-eight months (48). The value of the contract is 2.21 billion US dollars equal to 5.12 trillion Tanzanian shillings.
The President of the United Republic of Tanzania Hon. Dr. Samia has said that the construction of the Tabora – Kigoma railway will open it and connect Tanzania with the neighboring country of Congo through the transportation of goods and business using the port of Dar rs Salaam through Uvinza – Msongati to Kindu and towards Congo.
“This Tabora – Kigoma railway and the one from Uvinza – Msongati to Kindu are railways that are going to open up Tanzania and connect it with DR Congo where there is a lot of cargo that needs to be transported through our port, Congo has mineral mines with loads of more than 150 million tons and other loads to enable these mines to work, so this is an opportunity” said Dr. Samia
In addition, the Honorable President added that the construction of a modern railway in the country has brought many benefits to Tanzanians, including various jobs where until now, the ongoing construction of the first phase Dar es Salaam – Mwanza has provided more than 20,000 direct jobs and paid salaries of approximately 237.66 billion of Tanzania and tenders worth 1.910 Trillion shillings have been paid to indigenous companies while the income tax collected is 949 billion shillings.
“Let me continue to congratulate the Ministry of Construction and Transport together with the Tanzania Railways for managing the construction of the SGR well, let me continue to ask you to ensure that you manage this project professionally so that it is completed on time and with the required quality, it is my expectation that you will increase patriotism, creativity, commitment and work as a team” said Hon. President
And the Minister of Construction and Transport Hon. Prof. Makame Mbarawa has said that the development of the transport sector in the country is very important because the sector is a major source of uniting the country internally and externally and bringing about a revolution in the economy by opening up other sectors in business and investment.
“We recognize the Government’s ambition and the great drive it has put in ensuring that this transport sector contributes significantly to the national income, we also recognize the Government’s ambition to set up a better transport infrastructure to facilitate the growth of other economic sectors such as agriculture, mining and tourism are all dependent the transport sector in its activities” said Prof. Mbarawa
The Chief Executive of CCECC Mr. Zhang has thanked the Tanzanian Government for trusting CCECC to build large projects in this country, he has promised that CCEECC will build seriously by combining manpower, expertise and advanced technology to be able to achieve quality in the construction of the railway.
“We at CCECC thank the government of Tanzania for trusting us, Tanzania is our home, we promise to build SGR which will be a training for native engineers, a project that will create many jobs for Tanzanians, a project that will be an example of training for others and with high standards” he said. Mr. Zhang Junlee.
The Director General of Tanzania Railways Ndugu Masanja Kungu Kadogosa has explained that the signing of the contract for the construction of the Tabora – Kigoma railway is going to complete the construction of the medium SGR railway where Tanzania has made history as the first country in Africa to have a long SGR railway with a total of 2,201 kilometers when completed.
In addition, the Director General added that the government through the Tanzania Railway Corporation has continued to purchase various tools and equipment including eighty nine (89) passenger carriages, ten (19) electric locomotives, ten (10) sets of modern trains (Electric) Multiple Unit – EMU) with 1,430 freight wagons and modern twenty-four (24) track maintenance equipment.
