﻿10 most impressive mega construction projects in Tanzania
Tanzania is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to
the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and
Malawi to the south; Zambia to the southwest; and Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of
the Congo to the west. Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, is in northeastern Tanzania.
As of 2021, according to the IMF, Tanzania's gross domestic product (GDP) was an estimated
$71 billion (nominal), or $218.5 billion on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis.
GDP per capita (PPP) was $3,574.
From 2009 through 2013, Tanzania's per capita GDP grew an average of 3.5% per year, higher than any
other member of the East African Community (EAC) and exceeded by only nine countries in Sub-Saharan
Africa. Tanzania's largest trading partners in 2017 for its US$5.3 billion in exports were India,
Vietnam, South Africa, Switzerland, and China. Its imports totalled US$8.17 billion, with India,
Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, China, and the United Arab Emirates being the biggest partners.
Tanzania weathered the Great Recession, which began in late 2008 or early 2009, relatively well.
Strong gold prices, bolstering the country's mining industry, and Tanzania's
poor integration into global markets helped to insulate the country from the downturn.
Since the recession ended, the Tanzanian economy has expanded rapidly thanks to strong tourism,
telecommunications, and banking sectors. All of these gives us a clue as to why Tanzania will
involve itself in large mega development projects to further expand its economy.
Welcome to THINKRICH MEDIA the community which brings to you entrepreneurial,
business and personal development content to inform, motivate and inspire you! We also want
to introduce you to our special african development playlist because we strongly
believe Entrepreneurship rather than global pity is the key to Africa’s growth and development
so if you’re African and you aren’t subscribed to our community you’re missing out!
10. Hoima - Tanga Crude Oil Pipeline Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni signed the East
African Crude Oil Pipeline project agreement with his Tanzanian counterpart Samia Hassan Suluhu.
The agreement, signed in the Ugandan capital Kampala, paves the way for the construction
of a 1,440 km crude oil pipeline from Uganda's Albertine region to Tanzanian seaport of Tanga.
Extraction will take place at two oil fields: the Kingfisher field, which is operated by China
National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd, and the Tilenga field, operated by Total S.A. The $3.55
billion pipeline could be the longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline in the world. Once
completed, more than 10,000 job opportunities will be created during execution. Environmental
activists say the project poses risks to protected environments, water sources and wetlands in both
the countries due to C02 emissions from the burning of oil through the pipeline.
9. Julius Nyerere Hydro power Project
Julius Nyerere Hydropower Station is a hydroelectric dam under construction across
the Rufiji River in eastern Tanzania. Although controversial, the government approved the plans
in 2018. The power station is expected to have an installed capacity of 2,115 megawatts (2,836,000
hp) and to produce 5,920GWh of power annually. The project, power station and dam are owned by and
will be managed by the government owned Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO). Construction
began in 2019 and is expected to be completed in 2022. When completed, the dam will be fourth
largest in Africa, the ninth largest in the world, and the largest power station in East Africa.
The 134 metres (440 ft) arched, concrete dam is expected to create a reservoir lake,
100 kilometres (62 mi), in length, measuring 1,200 square kilometres (460 sq mi),
with 34,000,000,000 cubic metres of water. This power station is located in Selous Game Reserve,
one of the world's largest World Heritage sites, measuring 45,000 square kilometres (17,000 sq mi).
The power station and reservoir lake are planned to occupy approximately 1,350 square kilometres
(520 sq mi), within the game reserve. 8. Mtwara Fertilizer Plant
The fate of the planned $1.9 billion fertiliser plant on the Mtwara coastline is still unclear
as the government is yet to agree with potential investors on the project’s commercial framework.
The project was supposed to start in 2016 through a joint venture of the Tanzania Petroleum
Development Corporation (TPDC) with several foreign companies - but they did not strike
a deal with the government on the commercial terms to be involved. The Petroleum Upstream
Regulatory Authority (Pura) which regulates the exploration, development and production
of natural gas and the liquefied natural gas (LNG) said at the weekend that the fertiliser
project is still on - but the negotiations on commercial terms have not yet been concluded. The
issue is mainly on the price of natural gas which would be used as raw material for manufacturing
the fertiliser. The project is one of the oil and gas-related projects which still waiting both the
government and investors decision to commence. The national oil company Tanzania Petroleum
Development Company (TPDC) has started paying compensation to people who will leave the area
identified for the construction of the $30 billion project. Negotiations between the investors and
government commenced again in January this year. 7. Rusumo Hydropower Project
Despite criticism from environmentalists, Tanzanian President John Magufuli has
inaugurated a new hydroelectric power project in Selous Game Reserve, a world heritage
site. The project is expected to provide an additional 2,100 megawatts of electricity,
which will more than triple Tanzania's installed hydropower capacity of 562 megawatts. Currently
only 10 percent of households in Tanzania have access to the national grid for electricity,
according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Magufuli said the project
will not affect the environment and will boost the economy through industrialization.
The project will be contained to 3 percent of the Selous Game Reserve, a protected area about
the size of Switzerland. Once completed, the dam will be owned by the Ministry of Tourism.
Ahmed Elsewedy, spokesman for Elsewedy Electric, an Egyptian company which has financial interests
in the project, said the company will open schools and help boost the economy.
Adding that the company plans to build factories, inrease trade, and open technical schools to train
employees. But conservation organizations have been raising concerns about the dam's
environmental impact since plans were released in 2009. The World Wildlife Fund says the project
will endanger the livelihoods of some 200,000 people, including farmers and fishermen living
downstream from the proposed dam. According to the WWF, the Selous Game Reserve is one of
Africa's largest remaining wildnerness areas, and is home to elephants, black
rhinos and wild hunting dogs. 6. Phase 2 of DART Project
Tanzania is set to commence construction of phase two of the Dar es Salaam Bus Rapid Transit (DART)
in June this year. The DART administration confirmed the reports and said that 88.9%
of the project would be financed by the Africa Development Bank (ADB) while 11.1% of the project
would be financed by the Tanzanian government. The DART project is 49% owned by the government
and 51% owned by Simon Group Limited. The Usafiri salama Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit
(UDA-RT) operates the system with Surface and Marine Transport Regularity Authority
(SUMATRA) overseeing them. Phase one of the DART begun in 2012 and was completed by 2015.
The transit goes for 21.1km with 29 stations and a dedicated bus lanes. The project cost US $180m
and was funded by the Africa Development Bank, the World Bank and the Government of Tanzania.
Phase two of the 20.3km DART project starts at Gerezani and City Council BRT station.
This involves Kilwa Road, Chang’ombe Road, Kawawa Road, Gerezani Street, Bandari Road,
and Sokoine Drive. The project will be built with infrastructures such as 29 bus stations,
one bus depot at Mbagala-Rangitatu and two bus terminals at Mbagala-Rangitatu
and Kariakoo-Gerezani. Two fly-overs at VETA and Uhasibu will be constructed,
Uhasibu and Non-Motorized Transport facilities and five feeder stations at Dar es Salaam University
College of Education (DUCE), Mtoni Kwa Azizi Ali, Mbagala-Rangitatu, , Zakhiem and Misheni. The DART
Stakeholders have proposed mitigation measures to tackle matters that will arise during construction
period such as relocation of commuter bus stand and removing of petty traders at Gerezani Kariakoo
and Mbagala-Rangitatu respectively. 5. New international airport in Dodoma
The project is part of programme to expand the East African nation’s infrastructure. It will
be built in Msalato, 12 km from Dodoma. It will include a passenger terminal, runway and related
infrastructure. The new airport project which will take approximately four years for construction,
will have a capacity to handle 1 million passengers annually and will have a runway
of just over 2km in length. Project funding The funding package comprises a US $198.6m
loan from the AfDB, US $23.52m from the African Development Fund,
and US $50m in co-financing from China’s Africa Growing Together Fund, which the AfDB manages.
4. New Likong’o-Mchinga Liquefied Natural Gas plant US $30bn
Tanzania expects a consortium of international oil companies to start building a long-delayed
liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in 2022 and will be compleyed in 2028. Construction of an
LNG export terminal near huge offshore natural gas discoveries in deep water south of the East
African country has been held up for years by regulatory delays. The government said in March
it planned to conclude talks in September with a group of foreign oil and gas companies led by
Norway’s Equinor on developing the LNG terminal. The country’s central bank believes just starting
work on the $30 billion plant would add another two percentage points to annual economic growth
of around 7%. The project will have capacity to produce 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA)
of liquefied natural gas. The international oil companies (IOCs) will develop the project in
partnership with the state-run Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC). The plant would
be located on approximately 2,071.705 hectares in Likong'o Village in the town of Lindi on the
Indian Ocean coast, approximately 460 kilometres (286 mi), by road, south of Dar es Salaam.
3. Expansion of the Dar es salaam Port
The Government is implementing a project to expand 7 berths depth from the current 8 meters
to 15 meters. The expansion will allow the Port to receive larger vessels able to carry up to
19,000 containers. The project will enable the Tanzania Port Authority (TPA) to increase
the container through output to 28 million tons a year from around 20 million containers currently.
The port will be able to handle ships with more than 304 meters from the current 204 meters.
2. Tanzania SGR project
Tanzania will become the third country in East Africa to start enjoying modern railway services
after Kenya and Ethiopia. Kenya was the first country in the region to start the construction
of an SGR line, completing over 500km between Mombasa and Nairobi, and also inaugurating its
passenger services in June 2017. The Government is constructing a new electric railway line using
domestic resources from Dar es salaam – Morogoro – Dodoma about 700 Km. The whole projects cover a
distance of about 2,707 Km, with three branches from Dar es salaam – Tabora-Kigoma (1,251 kms);
Tabora – Mwanza (379 kms) and Kaliua – Mpanda (210 kms). The project is expected to improve
transportation of cargo and passengers in the central corridor. It is expected to reduce time
and freight for cargo destined to neighbouring countries like Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and DRC.
1. Bagamoyo Port US $11bn Through a collaboration between Tanzania,
China and Oman, the ambitious Bagamoyo port is now being developed in Tanzania,
along with 190 industries built throughout a 1,700-hectare special economic zone adjacent
to the port. At a cost of US $11bn, this mega infrastructure project is designed to become
Africa’s largest port.The port should be able to handle 20 million containers annually once it’s
fully completed by 2045. The project will position Tanzania into a regional economic powerhouse.