Cargo Business Newswire

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

$10B China-funded Tanzanian port to begin construction in 2015

Construction of a Chinese-funded port and special economic zone in Tanzania worth at least $10 billion will start in July 2015, according to the president's office, which is setting a start date for the first time for the delayed project.

Tanzania said it signed the infrastructure development agreement with port developer China Merchant Holding International and Oman's biggest sovereign wealth fund, the State General Reserve Fund.

The East African country intends to build a massive port at Bagamoyo, 47 miles north of commercial capital Dar es Salaam, where the nation’s main port is plagued by chronic congestion and inefficiencies. Spending on roads and railways are part of Tanzania's efforts to become a transport hub that could challenge the dominance of Mombasa in adjacent Kenya.

A construction agreement for the port and associated zone was signed Sunday and follows a deal signed last year. A framework agreement between Tanzania and the Chinese port operator was signed when Chinese President Xi Jinping's visited the African nation in March 2013.

An official said a start date for building work had taken time to set because of other negotiations about infrastructure to link the port to national transport networks.

"We will do everything possible to ensure that this project takes off because it will bring enormous economic benefits to the entire country," President Kikwete said in the statement.

For more of the Reuters Africa story: af.reuters.com

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