Standard Chartered Lends Tanzania $1.44 Billion for New Rail

DAR ES SALAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Standard Chartered Plc will lend Tanzania 3.3 trillion shillings ($1.44 billion) for the construction of a section of a new standard-gauge railway between Morogoro and Makutupora, in the Dodoma region, the Finance Ministry said.

The agreement follows a meeting between Finance Minister Philip Mpango and Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, the ministry said in an emailed statement.

The East African nation is building a 1,219-kilometer (757-mile) railway link connecting Dar es Salaam with Mwanza city by Lake Victoria. Construction will be in four tranches and the first segment, a 300-kilometer link between Dar es Salaam and Morogoro, is being built by Yapi Merkezi Insaat VE Sanayi AS of Turkey at a cost of 2.7 trillion shillings.

“We are building the modern railway from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro and then to Makutupora, which is two phases, but we will also build the railway to Isaka to Mwanza and later Rusumo where our Rwandan counterparts will build to Kigali,” Mpango said.

Tanzania said last month it will receive $200 million from the Trade and Development Bank for the project.