CHINA is lending US$40 million to the Tanzania and Zambia Railways Authority (TAZARA), thus favouring the Dar es Salaam route to the east African interior over Kenya's Mombasa route as the two ports battle for transshipment market share to the interior.
Tanzanian Transport Minister Omar Nundu said the loan would help the railway company come back to life following months of service and operational lapses.
Mombasa is double the size of Dar es Salaam as a port, but that creates congestion problems despite the arrival of new cargo handling equipment including rubber tyre gantry (RTG) cranes and reach stackers.
The TAZARA railway runs 1,860 kilometres from Dar es Salaam with Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia and was built with Chinese aid in the 1970s at a cost of $500 million, when Tanzania was within the socialist ambit while Kenya was considered capitalist turf.
Money from the new Chinese loan is earmarked for the purchase of six new locomotives, the overhaul of nine others and the acquisition of 90 new railcars. Existing cargo-handling equipment will also be refurbished.
The build-up of the TAZARA railway is aimed to make the line more competitive vis-a-vis Kenya's Rift Valley Railway, reports London's Containerisation International, adding that the growth in trade with landlocked Africa indicates that rail is losing market share to trucks.