Tanzania on Tuesday signed a major contract with Turkish construction firm Yapı Merkezi to build a 368-kilometer (228.67-mile) section of a standard gauge railway linking the largest port city in the East African nation with the hinterland.
The deal, which is expected to cost $1.9 billion and will be funded by loans, is part of a 1,219-kilometer line that Tanzania is building to help boost trade with neighboring countries, including Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. Yapı Merkezi is already building two other sections, which are near completion.
The section announced on Tuesday will link Makutopora with Tabora, two towns in the country’s central region, Masanja Kadogosa, the director-general of the Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC), said in a televised ceremony.
The full line will connect Tanzania’s Indian Ocean port and commercial capital of Dar es Salaam with Mwanza, a port city on the shores of Lake Victoria, which straddles the borders of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.
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