China Civil Engineering Development Company (CCECC) will make investments $1.4bn in an improve of Africa’s longest railway – the 1,860km “Tazara” line that connects Zambia’s copper belt with the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
In return, CCECC, which constructed the road within the early Nineteen Seventies, will run it for 30 years.
Beijing had agreed in precept to pay for the upgrading of the road final September, however didn’t identify a determine (see additional studying).
A memorandum of understanding to that impact was signed in Beijing and witnessed by presidents Xi Jinping of China, Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania and Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia.
The information was given by Bruno Ching’andu, the chief govt of the Tazara Authority, on the Zimec mining convention in Zambia.
“The choice to grant a concession follows an in-depth analysis of Tazara’s challenges through the years, which necessitated pressing intervention,” he mentioned.
Some $1bn of CCECC’s cash will go in the direction of the rehabilitation of the tracks and the rest will likely be used to purchase 32 locomotives and 762 wagons, Ching’andu mentioned.
CCECC may even conduct “main overhauls and steady upkeep” all through the concession interval. The preliminary rehabilitation work is anticipated to final three years.
The road will likely be handed again to the 2 states after the concession interval.
Ching’andu added that the concession would mark “the start of a brand new period” for Tazara.
“The funding from CCECC won’t solely restore our railway infrastructure but additionally place Tazara as a key enabler of commerce and financial progress between Tanzania and Zambia,” he mentioned.
The only-track line was constructed by CCECC between 1970 and 1975 and financed by an interest-free mortgage from the Chinese language authorities. The undertaking was introduced on the time as an indication of solidarity between China and the newly decolonised African states.
Its intention was to permit Zambia to export its copper and cobalt with out going by colonial Rhodesia or apartheid South Africa.
Greater than 160 staff, together with 64 Chinese language nationals, died throughout building after being stung by bees.
The road progressively fell into disrepair over the following 50 years. It was introduced in December 2023 CCECC would study the engineering and financial instances for revitalising it.
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