Tanzania - Central Transport Corridor Project

Updated Project Information Document (PID) Report No: AB100 Project Name TANZANIA-Central Transport Corridor Project Region Africa Regional Office Sector Roads and highways (100%) Theme Infrastructure services for private sector development (P) Project P078387 Borrower(s) REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA Implementing Agency(ies) TANROADS Address: Contact Person: Tel: 255-22-2-2150101 Fax: 255-22-2-150022 Email: tanroadsh1@cats-net.com Environment Category B (Partial Assessment) Date PID Prepared July 28, 2003 Auth Appr/Negs Date January 15, 2004 Bank Approval Date May 15, 2004 1. Country and Sector Background Transport Sector. The transport network in Tanzania comprises: (a) road transport, with roads totaling about 85,000 km (b) railway transport, with two railways totaling about 3,570 km and operated by Tanzania Railway Corporation (2,600 km) and Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (970 km) (c) Maritime transport, with major sea ports at Dar es Salaam, Tanga and Mtwara and inland water transport with ports in lake Victoria, Tanganyika and Nyasa (d) Air transport, with three international airports at Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar. Road transport represents 70% of freight and 90 percent of passenger transport in the country. Registered vehicles are over 120,000 and average annual traffic growth rate is 6 percent. Commercial vehicle population was estimated at 36,000 (1999), of which 64 percent are freight vehicles. More than 90 percent of the commercial vehicles are one vehicle owner/operator, with low level of technical and managerial expertise and limited financial capacity. During 2001, the transport sector contributed 12 percent to the country's export earnings. Roads provide the only means of access to much of the rural communities and an effective management of road assets is of vital importance to the Government's strategy for economic development and poverty reduction as detailed in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP). The road network is much less developed in Tanzania than in some other SSA countries. The density of the Tanzania road network is 96 m/sq. km as compared to Kenya (262 m/sq. km) and Uganda (330 m/sq. km). In addition, the primary grid is incomplete. The road network. The on-going review of Highway Ordinance recommends network classification in the following five categories: