Construction of Dar-Moro SGR reaches 42pc

Dar es Salaam. The construction of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro has reached 42 per cent while construction of the Makutupora-Tabora section stands at  six per cent.

The Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) executive director, Mr Masanja Kadogosa, told The Citizen on the sideline of a meeting on “sixth capstone course” that brought more than 50 senior government officials from the mainland and Zanzibar.

Tanzania signed an agreement with Turkish and Portuguese firms to construct the Dar es Salaam- Morogoro stretch at Sh2.7 trillion, which is expected to be completed  by November 1, this year.

“So far the construction progress is on the right track . We  are optimistic that we are going to finalise the Dar-Morogoro section within the next 10 months ” he said.

Mr Kadogosa stressed that they have done a lot of underground work and that the main work left was the installation of railway sleepers and fibers.

The country plans to spend $14.2 billion over the next five years to build the 2,561 kilometre-SGR connecting its main port of Dar es Salaam to land-locked neighbours namelythe Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.

The construction of the project is divided into four phasesand put out separate tenders to design it.

The three remaining sections are Makutupora-Tabora (294km), Tabora-Isaka (133km) and Isaka-Mwanza (248km).

In July, 2016, China, through its Exim Bank, agreed to advance Tanzania $7.9 million for the railway project, despite its key contracting firms having been omitted from the project.