The Government has formally kicked off construction of the 165-kilometre standard gauge railway (SGR) section from Isaka-Tabora.

Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony held on January 18, 2023 at Isaka in Shinyanga Region, the Vice President, Dr. Philip Mpango, emphasized the need of ensuring attainment of value for money in the strategic project worth USD 900.1 million as well as the preservation of its infrastructure and equipment.  

The Vice President also highlighted the importance of the project, which is undertaken by a Turkish contractor Yapi Merkezi, noting that it will create more than 20,000 employment opportunities and that 1.9 trillion Shillings worth of works will be undertaken by local sub-contractors, thereby contributing positively to the economic wellbeing of the country.

Furthermore, Dr. Mpango was scathing against unpatriotic individuals who appear bent on sabotaging the government’s efforts by destroying infrastructure or stealing equipment from the project and implored the security bodies, including the police, to take appropriate action in order to stamp out the misdeeds.

Assuring all stakeholders that the Government would keep on funding all strategic projects to ensure they would be completed in time and at expected quality, Dr. Mpango said: “It is the government’s expectation that TRC will work as a team, to ensure proper supervision of this project so that it will be completed on time and with expected quality.”

Dr. Mpango went on to direct the Ministry of Works and Transport to make sure that the project went hand in hand with construction of Tabora Railway College, which would prepare personnel to run the SGR network.

The works, expected to be completed within 42 months, are part of the bigger 1,596 kilometers SGR project which will cost the Government 23.3 trillion Shillings and is meant to link Dar es Salaam Port with the hinterland as well as the neighboring countries, namely Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Rwanda.