Announcement of Tanzania Obtains Credit for the Central Transport Corridor that Boosts National Development and Trade with Neighbors on May 7, 2004

Tanzania Obtains Credit For The Central Transport Corridor That Boosts National Development And Trade With Neighbors Media Contacts In Washington: Herbert Boh(202) 473 3548 hboh@worldbank.org In Tanzania Rosalie Ferrao : (255-22) 2114575 Rferrao@worldbank.org Washington DC, May 7, 2004 – The World Bank has approved an International Development Association (IDA) credit of US$122 million to support the upgrading of strategic roads in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, enhance road management and improve the operations of Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC). The credit was approved on April 29, 2004. Amongst the roads to be upgraded are the 110km Singida-Shelui section of the Central Transport Corridor and three roads in Zanzibar : the 19km long Mkwajuni-Nungwi road, 21km of Pongwe-Matemwe road and the 17km long Paje-Pingwe road. Preparatory work has already been done and it is expected that construction will start during the last quarter of year 2004 for the Singida-Shelui road and during the first quarter of 2005 for the Zanzibar roads. The upgrading of the section of the Central Corridor will facilitate movement between the industrial and port capital of Dar es Salaam and Tanzania’s interior and also provide the missing link to important commercial towns such as Singida, Nzega, Shinyanga and Mwanza. Significantly, it will also serve the landlocked countries of Burundi, Rwanda, DRC and Uganda thus opening new avenues for trade with neighboring countries. In the words of Dieter Schelling, the World Bank’s Task Team Leader for the project “the Central Transport Corridor is critical to promoting regional integration, trade and investment because it opens up areas of main economic activities, such as mining, tourism, agriculture and manufacturing, in addition to serving four landlocked neighboring countries”. The upgrading of the three roads in Zanzibar will provide strategic support to the development of tourism, and agro and fishing industries in Zanzibar, and will help stimulate human development through making services more readily accessible to local population. The project will also support the rehabilitation of five ferries that are located at Kigamboni on the Magogoni creek in Dar es Salaam, Pangani river near Pangani town, Rufiji river on the road to Lindi, Kilombero river near Ifakara and Mwanza port to make them safe and reliable. It is expected that the ferries once rehabilitated will be managed commercially so that their operations will be self sustaining. The project also provides finance for preparatory works (feasibility and design that could lead later to upgrading to various standards) for 220km of Dodoma- Babati road. This is part of the Great North road which also links the northern regions of the country to the Southern highlands. It includes the Singida-Babati- Minjingu road that if upgraded will provide a strategic link between the agricultural areas around Mount Kilimanjaro to the capital, Dodoma and its environs and the north-western industrial and mining regions of Mwanza and Shinyanga. A third road is the Tanga – Horohoro road that links the port town of Tanga to Kenya border and on to the port city of Mombasa for which the Bank has invested in the construction of six bridges under the Intergrated Road Project credit. The preparatory work for these three roads will be funded through the Nordic Development Fund which is co-financing the credit. The Bank is also financing the design for the rehabilitation and strengthening of the Korogwe-Mkumbara-Same road whose construction works are planned under a proposed future transport sector support credit. To help enhance road management in Tanzania the credit will fund the construction of a headquarters building for TANROADS, the national agency responsible for the management of trunk and regional roads, provide them and Zanzibar, Ministry of Communication and Transport with state of the art information and communication technology and training. The credit will also support the Road Fund Board and the President’s Office for Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG) in determining the length and condition of district roads for which a reliable inventory is currently not available. In the urban area, the Dar es Salaam City Council has made proposals for a Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system that if implemented will run along the same lines as other mass transit systems in cities such as Bogota in Columbia and underground services in the western capitals. For a city like Dar with a population of over 3.3m people this is a natural evolution and a major step in the right direction for which the credit will facilitate the planning work. The Council has identified corridors along which the BRT will operate. Once implemented the project will reduce traffic congestion and emission of green house gases in the city. The third component involves improvement of the operations of the Tanzania Railway Corporation and will primarily support the government in the concession of the operations of the railway to a private operator with the ownership of the railway being retained by the Government of Tanzania. The credit provides funds to rehabilitate the railway, which is in poor condition in many sections, to make it attractive and safe. The private operator will manage the railway operations and is expected to invest in rolling stock and infrastructure in order to improve on services offered to commuters and freight. Lastly, it is important to note that Tanzania has made significant steps in reforming the transport sector to make it reliable and efficient. Transport is an important player in Tanzania’s economy and contributed 12 percent to Tanzania’s export earnings in 2001. The Bank is committed to help Tanzania improve her transport infrastructure and will support reforms and proposals that will lead to sustainable development. The Bank will also support the development of rural transport infrastructure, to link the villages where the majority of the people live, as part of the fight against poverty as it has been established that there is a direct link between community isolation and the incidence of poverty. Facilitating the movement of agricultural products in rural Tanzania to urban centers and beyond has been shown to contribute significantly to poverty reduction strategies. The implementation of the credit will be over a five year period. IDA will contribute US$122m, Nordic Development Fund US$6 and Government of Tanzania US$10m. The maturity of the credit is 40 years, including a 10-year period of grace. For more information on the World Bank’s work in Tanzania visit: http://www.worldbank.org/afr/tz For more information on the project visit: http://web.worldbank.org/external/default/main? pagePK=64027221&piPK=64027220&theSitePK=258799&menuPK=287367&Projectid=P078387