Tanzania’s SGR set to start operations end of April
Wednesday April 13 2022
An aerial view of the ongoing construction of the Standard Gauge Railway line in Tanzania. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) has announced that the Dar es Salaam-Morogoro Phase 1 of the Standard Gauge Railway will start operations at the end of this month.
The whole project is almost complete with the construction of the Morogoro-Dodoma stretch having reached 82.2 percent and set for completion by December 2022, Director-General Masanja Kadogosa said.
The first and the second phase are all under the Turkish contractor Yapı Merkezi.
Mr Kadogosa did not, however, delve into the details regarding the first phase’s operations which is expected to use electric trains.
He spoke at a ceremony to lay the foundation stone for the Mkutopora-Dodoma Phase Three SGR construction that was graced by President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
According to Mr Kadogosa, the government of Tanzania has released Tsh609.6 billion ($261 million) out of the total of Tsh4. 6 trillion ($1.9 billion) for the construction of the 368 km project.
“In March 2021 President Samia Hassan Suluhu promised to finish the construction of SGR…Soon we might sign another contract for the construction of SGR Kigoma-Tabora.”