TANZANIA’s minister of works and transport, Prof Makame Mbarawa, laid a foundation stone for the Makutupora - Tabora phase three section of the Dar es Salaam - Mwanza standard-gauge railway project on April 12 at the Cheyo B stadium in Tabora.

The 368km Makutupora - Tabora section will have eight passenger and freight stations in Manyoni, Itigi, Kazikazi, Tura, Malongwe, Goweko, Igalula and Tabora.

Yapı Merkezi, Turkey, was awarded a $US 1.9bn turnkey contract for the infrastructure works, including the signalling, telecommunications, and electrification. The project must be completed in 3 years 10 months including trial operation.

“Our company has already undertaken the construction of the first two phases of the Dar es Salaam - Mwanza railway in Tanzania, which will be the fastest railway in East Africa,” says Mr Erdem Arıoğlu, vice-chairman of Yapı Merkezi Construction.

The 1219km 160km/h standard-gauge railway is being built in five phases:

• Phase 1 Dar es Salaam - Morogoro
• Phase 2 Morogoro - Makutupora
• Phase 3 Makutupora - Tabora
• Phase 4 Tabora - Isaka, and
• Phase 5 Isaka - Mwanza.

About 80% of the new railway is being built parallel to the existing metre-gauge line while 20% will be on new alignments to avoid sharp curves.