The government of Tanzania Ministry of Finance has signed a US$1.46bn facility agreement with Standard Chartered Tanzania to fund the construction of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project from Dar es Salaam to Makutupora
Running approximately 550km long, the SGR project is one of the country’s leading projects connecting Dodoma to Dar es Salaam via Morogoro and Makutupora. Once complete, the SGR Rail project will provide a safe and reliable means for transporting people and cargo to and from the existing Dar es Salaam Port.
According to the Tanzania Railways Corporation, the railway will address congestion challenges and decrease freight service charges by 40 per cent, as the railway will be able to haul up to 10,000 tonnes of freight, equivalent to 500 lorries, per trip. It will connect Tanzania to Burundi, Rwanda and The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), enhancing regional trade.
SGR project has created more than 8,000 direct employment opportunities
The minister of finance and planning Dr Philip Mpango commented, “With the help of Standard Chartered and our partners, the project financing will further increase direct employment in Tanzania, and more importantly, enable our local communities the thrive as they will be able to gain access to wider social services such as food and housing.”
Besides, Mpango thanked the governments of Sweden and Denmark, which were represented by their ambassadors in Tanzania, for their confidence in the country’s economic growth. Mpango further commended the roles of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the Trade and Development Bank (TDB) and the African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim) for supporting the project in partnership with Export Credit Agencies from Denmark and Sweden.
Sanjay Rughani, CEO at Standard Chartered Tanzania, noted that the SGR project will deliver massive benefits to Tanzania and support the government’s 2025 vision of making Tanzania an industrialised country.
Sunil Kaushal, regional CEO at Standard Chartered Africa and the Middle East, said, “There is a considerable appetite from the global investment community into Africa, with 80 per cent of our top corporate and institutional clients using our Africa and Middle East network.”
