Tanzania - Transport Infrastructure Tanzania-Transport-Infrastructure
Overview
Improving the transportation infrastructure is a key priority for the Government of Tanzania. Improving the nation’s roads, ports, railways and airport infrastructure is critical for the country to improve its internal and external trade and commercial activities. Moreover, the sector’s further development goes hand-in-glove with improvements in the energy sector as Tanzania strives to become a middle-income country.
Tanzania’s National Transport Policy sets goals and objectives for each of the major transportation services. Highlights include:
This is a very important but broad sector to summarize, and it has been the subject of a number of recent comprehensive studies by the African Development Bank Group and others. The Tanzanian Investment Center’s Investment Guide notes that there has been a sustained effort to enhance the country’s infrastructure. Guiding strategies can be found in Tanzania’s Vision 2025 plan, the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (MKUKUTA), and the Implementation Strategy of the Transport Policy of 2011-2025. These strategies call for a continued focus on the development of infrastructure, with a priority on the continued development of the nation’s road system, ports, airports and railways.
- Increasing rail freight to 4 million tons by 2023
- Expanding sea and lake port cargo handling by 50 percent by 2020
- Expanding Julius Nyerere International Airport’s passenger and cargo handling capacity by 2020
- Improving urban transportation networks to improve mobility and reduce congestion
- The development of more effective intermodal transport links
- Development and strengthening of institutions to implement strategic PPPs
Sub-Sector Best Prospects
Roads: In February 2017, the World Bank announced the approval of increased US$ 130 million funding for the Tanzania Strategic Cities Project (TSCP), which will benefit 8 cities including Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Arusha, Kigoma, Dodoma, Mwanza, Mbeya and Mtwara. The project promises to improve public accessible roads, drainage within the cities and more robust planning and financial management practices.
In October 2016, the heads of state of Tanzania and Kenya, met to discuss the two-road project, which will be financed by the African Development Bank and improve passenger and cargo traffic between the two countries. The two countries plan to build a 412km road between Malindi and Bagamoyo that is expected to ease movement along the two countries' coastlines. The start of a mega road project connecting Kenyan and Tanzanian coastal towns faces delay as Kenya drags its feet in moving the project forward. The 2017/18 budget plans to allocate US $55 million towards the construction and maintenance of regional and district roads under the Road Fund, as well as road construction projects.
Railways: Tanzania’s rail corridors are key conduits for bulk freight in the region as they ease the pressure on roads. The rail system has a total track length of 3,676km, which are operated by two railways systems: the Tanzania Railway Limited (TRL) and the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA). The railways link the Port of Dar es Salaam to the neighboring countries of Burundi, the DRC, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.
The rail system consists of two main lines. The central line, which runs from Dar es Salaam to Tabora, has two branches: one to Kigoma in the west along Lake Tanganyika, and one runs from Tabora to Mwanza port on Lake Victoria. The other line runs from Ruvu northward to Korogwe and then branches to Tanga port on the Indian Ocean. The other branch goes north-west to Moshi. It connects to the Kenyan railway system at Taveta as well as to Kenyan and Ugandan networks by rail ferry on Lake Victoria. The railway sector is forecasted to grow as a result of increased mining and quarrying activities, and investment in new lines. However, the growth is still predicted to lag behind the road system.
The President of Tanzania Dr. John Magufuli on April 12, 2017 laid the foundation stone for the construction of the first section of the standard gauge railway connecting the port city of Dar es Salaam to Morogoro. Once completed, the railway promises to benefit Tanzanian through reduced transit time within the regions covered, as well as increased options for modes of transport. There are a total of 4 additional sections planned with section 2 already tendered. Sections 3-5 as of October 2018 had not yet been tendered.
Ports: The sea port of Dar es Salaam is the nation’s largest and busiest port, handling about 95 percent of the Tanzania international trade. The port serves the landlocked countries of Malawi, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. Primary lake ports include Mwanza on Lake Victoria and Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika. The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) oversees the administration of both the seaports and the inland lake ports.
Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) has developed initiatives to try to ensure it is the preferred choice for transporting to landlocked countries in Africa. For example in October 2016, TPA established a liaison office in Kigali, Rwanda in order to reduce logistical costs of doing business between the two countries.
As a result, we anticipate that this will increase the amount of trade that flows between Tanzania and its neighboring land locked countries.
Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) is implementing several major projects as outlined in the National Ports Master Plan (PMP). The study laid out long term strategy for Tanzanian Ports to create capacity for the expected demand. One of such projects is the Dar es Salaam Maritime Gateway Project (DMGP).
DMGP plans to improve port effectiveness and efficiency by converting the port into world class port with optimized efficiency to accommodate the calling and reception of larger vessels.
Port modernization projects include but not limited to strengthening and deepening of berths 1-7 and RORO terminal, dredging of entrance channel, turning circle and harbor basin, strengthening and deepening 8-11, and construction of a new terminal jet.
For the financial year 2017/18, the Government of Tanzania has expressed interest in reducing the cost of using Tanzanian ports and increasing their competitiveness in the market. The Government aims to do this by zeroing out rating the VAT for ancillary transport services.
Airports: The Tanzania Airport Authority is responsible for the oversight of 62 airports throughout the country. The nation has four international airports including Dar es Salaam (JNIA), Kilimanjaro (KIA), Zanzibar (ZIA) and Mwanza (MWZ). As of 2016, there were 21 airlines operating at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA), Tanzania’s largest and busiest airport. Tanzania Airport Authority’s (TAA) 2017 report showed that airport’s aircraft movements went up by 49.1 per cent from 2682 planes in 2016 to 4,004 aircraft in 2017.
The Construction of terminal three at Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) was extended to May 3, 2019 with a planned passenger capacity increase from two to nine million passengers. Terminal three alone is planned to handle 6.5 million passengers annually, more than twice the capacity of terminal two’s 2.5 million. In an attempt to revive the airline market in Tanzania, the Government purchased and Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATLC) began new operations with new Bombardier and Boeing planes. ATLC revenue increased to 4.5 billion/- at the end of 2017 up from 700 million shillings collected in 2016 and losses cut down to 4.3 billion shillings in 2017 compared to 14.2 billion shillings posted in 2016, signaling that the national carrier is rebounding after a decade of a steady decline.
The arrival of its first Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner in July 2018 gave Air Tanzania the ability to go after the lucrative Indian market with first flights planned in late 2018 to Mumbai. With the arrival of the additional Bombardier aircraft in December 2018, Air Tanzania plans to have the Bombardiers take over the India route and deploy the Dreamliner to Guangzhou, China. The previously arrived three new Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprop aircraft launched new domestic routes including Bukoba and Dodoma, and revived major routes such as Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro and Mbeya.
The government is planning for two more Bombardier CS300 and another Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to venture into lucrative regional routes as the national flag carrier is set to become a force to reckon with in the lucrative regional routes.
Opportunities
With improvements and upgrades foreseen in every sub-sector listed above, interested U.S. firms should continually scan the web resources listed below for tenders and upcoming opportunities. In the near term, the TIC has noted a number of areas of opportunity in their Investment Guide. Highlights include:
- Development of inland container depots and international container operations at Mwanza, Kigoma, Tabora, Morogoro, Arusha, Tanga, Shinyanga, Dodoma and Mpanda
- Opportunities for rail rolling stock and locomotives
- Building of hotels at regional airports
- Building of warehousing facilities including cold storage, at JNIA’s new terminal
- Building shopping complexes and lounges at the international airports
Aircraft maintenance hanger
- Convention center
- Shopping mall
- Four-star hotel
Web Resources
Ministry of Transport
Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA)
Tanzania Road Agency (TANROADS)
Tanzania Airport Authority (TAA)
Tanzania Railway Limited (TRL
Tanzania Investment Center (TIC)
African Development Bank (afDB