Tanga-Musoma project queried

[John Ashworth]

TANGA-MUSOMA PROJECT QUERIED

Railways Africa On January 31, 2012 In Tanzania

According to Sseesamirembe Eco-City: Lake Victoria Free Trade Zone company executive director Beenunula Nunumisa, the proposed Tanga-Musoma railway needs reconsideration. A better route, he says, would be Tanga- Singida-Mutukula-Kampala. This would be a continuous, unbroken railway, whereas the route to Uganda via Musoma would necessitate goods being transhipped to a ferry on Lake Victoria. A branch off a line via Mutukula could be built to Musoma, if feasibility studies support the likely viability of this.

The Tanga-Musoma project (estimated cost $US3.5-4 billion) was initiated by presidents Museveni of Uganda and Kikwete of Tanzania who foresaw a “Trans-African cargo of at least 400 containers” arriving at Musoma every 42 minutes. A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with the government of Uganda for the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation to conduct a feasibility study costing about $450 million.