CHINA, Zambia and Tanzania signed a landmark $US 1.4bn agreement on November 20 to modernise the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) line in eastern Africa.
It followed the announcement earlier this year that China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) had been awarded a 30-year private-public partnership (PPP) concession on a build-operate-transfer basis.
The deal was signed in Zambia's capital, Lusaka, during a visit by Chinese premier Li Qiang, who, along with Zambian president, Hakainde Hichilema, and Tanzanian vice-president, Emmanuel Nchimbi, took part in a groundbreaking ceremony for the modernisation programme. A similar signing ceremony had taken place in Beijing on September 29.
"Tazara is a signature project, ushering in a new era of development and prosperity for Tanzania, Zambia, and China,” said Li, according to Zambian media outlet Anadolu Agency.
"This agreement will improve Tazara’s integrity and capability,” Hichilema said. “We see Tazara as more than just a railway line, it is an important economic corridor."
The 1860km 1067mm-gauge line linking Tanzania and Zambia was built by China and opened in 1976 to facilitate copper exports and fuel imports through Tanzania.
The scope of work for the modernisation programme includes station rehabilitation, track renewal, tunnel and bridge refurbishment and associated infrastructure renewal, which is expected to increase freight traffic on the line from 100,000 tonnes to 2.4 million tonnes a year.
