Tanzania to Sign $1.46b Deal for Phase 2 of Rail Project

By Ken Karuri (Bloomberg) -- Tanzania’s government is planning to sign a $1.46 billion loan agreement in mid-December for construction of the second phase of the standard-gauge railway that runs from Morogoro to Makutopora in Singida region, Daily News reports, citing finance minister Philip Mpango. The loan agreement is with domestic and international lenders and Mpango hopes to conclude the deal by Dec. 17, the report said. Mpango said Tanzania wants greater involvement of local financial institutions in major infrastructure development projects, the newspaper said. Tanzania awarded a $1.92 billion contract to Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi Insaat VE Sanayi in September 2017 to construct a 422-km (262-mile) high-speed electric railway line from Morogoro to Makutopora in Singida region, the newspaper said. The Turkish firm was contracted to design and construct the railway line, which will have the capacity to transport 17 million tons of cargo per year, it said. It was the second major infrastructure project the Turkish company won in Tanzania. It also signed a $1.22 billion deal with the government in early 2017 to build the first phase of the railway line from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro. Construction work for the first phase has reached 60%, the newspaper cited Mpango as saying. To contact the reporter on this story: Ken Karuri in Dar es Salaam at kkaruri@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net Michael Sin, Michael S. Arnold