Tanzania is Building Largest Road Infrastructure Network  

A quick trip to Tanzania’s largest commercial capital Dar Es Salaam gives a glimpse into the country’s ambitious agenda to modernize its transport infrastructure to enable the efficient movement of people and goods. 

From Julius Nyerere International Airport to the bustling streets of downtown Dar Es Salaam, and across all major municipal councils, the government has been conducting a complete overhaul of road transport, replacing old road infrastructure with new, modern road systems.

One particular development that catches one’s attention are the new flyovers, a bus rapid transit line, and an array of road construction activities that include everything from upgrading and renovating existing roads, to building and modernizing bus rapid transit lines, and a planned railway line.

Strolling the streets of Kipawa, Keko, Gerezani, all through to Mchafukoge, Temeke and Jangwani, Dar Es Salaam infrastructure development is nothing short of inspiration to the rest of the region.

The driving force behind this monumental endeavor lies in the vision of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who has steered the nation towards a path of progress since assuming office. 

Although some of the projects being implemented currently date back to Magufuli’s era, President Samia has brought dramatic changes to the country that had previously seen investors withdraw from the country when Magufuli was at the helm of the Tanzanian presidency.  

Even President Samia admitted when she took over the presidency that the previous leadership had robbed Tanzania of its potential to attract and keep investors safe into the country.

"We should offer incentives to strategic investors and dismantle hurdles that discourage investors from doing business in the country," she said in her maiden address to the National Assembly in the capital Dodoma in April 2021. 

President Samia said at the time that there was bureaucracy in issuing relevant permits to prospective investors, and red tape in providing land to investors, insisting that those malpractices had to end if Tanzania wanted to attract investors.

She was right. There was no way Tanzania was going to fast-track its economic development if it continued to implement hostile investment policies and sidelined investors that it desperately needed.

Indeed, President Samia has reversed that. When she took over, she restored friendly administrative procedures that attracted investors, and implemented investment reforms that built confidence in Tanzania’s economy.

One would argue that the modernization of road infrastructure development that Tanzania is witnessing could partly be attributed to Samia’s development approach.

Just last week, the World Bank signed a trillion Tanzanian Shillings financing agreement with the government of Tanzania to support the development of a 250-kilometre stretch of road network in Dar Es Salaam.  

Last year, the World Bank had approved two separate loans worth about $1.14 billion combined to Tanzania to support its private sector, develop its commercial capital Dar Es Salaam and fight effects of climate change.

These developments will not only benefit Tanzania but also the East African region. This is because Dar Es Salaam is a major logistics hub for the region. Its port connects six landlocked neighbouring countries to the international markets.

Largest Railway Line 

Part of Tanzania’s modernization agenda is investing in railway lines. The country is currently building one of Africa’s largest railway lines that will replace the colonial-era railway network. 

The Standard Guage Railway (SGR) that Tanzania is currently expanding will replace the old, inefficient meter-gauge railway system.

This week, Tanzania commenced the inaugural trial journey of the electric SGR train from Dar Es Salaam to Morogoro in the eastern part of Tanzania, a key step towards boosting the country’s connectivity. 

The new railway, running at 160 kilometres per hour, will cut travel time from Dar Es Salaam to Morogoro to two hours from the current four hours by bus and five hours by train on the old meter-gauge railway. 

The 300-kilometre Dar Es Salaam-Morogoro line is the first phase of the larger SGR projectthat will link Tanzania, from the port of Dar es Salaam on the Indian Ocean to the port of Mwanza on the shore of Lake Victoria in northern Tanzania, and from there to neighboring countries of Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Chinese and Turkish investors have poured money into these capital-intensive projects, hoping to make a fortune. It is a long-term game, but one that will eventually pay off to both the investors and Tanzania.

Even the World Bank recently expressed confidence and pledged to support the financing of the modern SGR projects in Tanzania. 

However, the greater ambitions to extend the SGR project to Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo have been subject to political rows between regional neighbours. 

According to the East African Railway Master Plan, the initial proposed standard gauge railway line on the Northern Corridor would connect Tanzania to Rwanda and ultimately to Burundi. These plans were halted when Burundi and Rwanda relations broke in 2015.

Another proposed plan on the Central Corridor was meant to connect Tanzania with Uganda then to Rwanda and Burundi. These plans too could not result in any tangible results after Uganda and Rwanda relations fell apart. 

Countries in the region had resorted to working directly with Tanzania to build their own railway lines with Tanzania, but these efforts have been slow owing to the complexities to raise the necessary funding.