Tanzania hopes to position itself as a regional trade hub and expects the expansion to increase cargo throughput from around 14 to 28 million tonnes a year by 2020.
The contract will include the construction of a ro-ro terminal as well as the deepening of seven existing berths to facilitate larger container ships. There will also be a modern railway with trains capable of 120 kilometers per hour calling at the port.
“Today we begin to rewrite the history of the Port of Dar es Salaam,” said Makame Mbarawa, Minister of Works, Transport and Communication. Earlier this year, Tanzania received a USD 305 million loan from the World Bank to expand the port, whose current inefficiencies cost the region up to USD 2.6 billion a year.