Burundi to save $70 million through SGR link to Tanzania
The ongoing construction of the Standard Gauge Railway line in Tanzania. FILE PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Without the railway now under construction, the land-locked country would have lost nearly $1 billion in a decade, an amount needed to build one
Arusha. Completion of a standard gauge railway (SGR) linking Burundi to the Dar es Salaam port would save the former a hefty $ 70 million a year in transport costs.
Without the railway now under construction, the land-locked country would have lost nearly $1 billion in a decade, an amount needed to build one.
"Failing to invest in a railway has been costly to our economy," said the Burundi minister for Infrastructure Dieudonne Dukundane.
Speaking at the just-ended Africa Investment Forum in Morocco, the minister said the SGR which will extend to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) would be a game changer for the economies of the three countries.
"It is going to be a game changer in trade and exploitation of the rich mineral potential the three countries have," he said.
The minister added, as quoted by the wire agencies; "It would save our country (Burundi) about $70 million in transport costs."
Burundi capital, Gitega, the terminus of the proposed railway line, is about 1,500 kilometres from Dar es Salaam port used by the landlocked country for its foreign trade.
A round trip makes 3,000km. With a railway (SGR) in place, it will help the struggling Burundi economy save nearly $100 per tonne. "And, if we were running a business of nearly a million tonnes per year, we’d be saving not less than $70 million,"he pointed out.
Tanzania and Burundi recently reached an agreement to jointly build a 282km long standard gauge railway (SGR) which will connect the two countries.
The project would cost about $900 million, according to the ministry of Finance which has not revealed the financing details.
The proposed railway line will link Uvinza town in Kigoma region with Gitega in Burundi. The route will aid transportation of millions of tonnes of cargo a year.
These will include over three million tonnes of minerals from Burundi to Tanzania, according to the minister for Finance Mwigulu Nchemba.
While Tanzania will develop a 156km section from Malagarasi to Uvinza, Burundi will build a section that will span 126km to Gitega.
The new railway line will also link the Dar es Salaam port with the land-locked eastern DRC, Zambia, Rwanda and Uganda.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan was among the African Heads of State who attended the African Investment Forum at Marrakech in Morocco.
She said due to a huge gap in connectivity in Africa, Tanzania has been focusing on attracting significant investments in infrastructure "to boost connectivity with its neighbours." The East African Community (EAC) secretary general Peter Mathuki told the forum that the regional organisation would push for additional investments in infrastructure. These will include infrastructure projects on the main corridors linking the Great Lakes region with the ports of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa "to boost trade".
Leaders who spoke at the forum extolled the role of transport corridors in integrating Africa and facilitating the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
