Dar es Salaam Port Secures USD 596 Mln for Upgrade

Tanzania’s port Dar es Salaam is about to undergo a USD 596 million (about Sh1.1 trillion) upgrade during the next few years, a project that will be fully financed by the World Bank, the UK’s Department for International Development and TradeMark East Africa (TMEA).

The upgrade will include deepening and strengthening of berths 1-7, the dredging of the entrance channel and turning basin in the port.

The World Bank, which is currently financing the construction of infrastructure for the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit (Dart), will give Tanzania a USD 400 million loan to finance the upgrade project in line with the Dar es Salaam Maritime Gateway Project (DMGP).

The ultimate goal of the project is for the port to be able to handle 28 million tonnes by 2020 from 14.6 million it handled in 2013/14.

Out of the money, the DFID will give Tanzania USD 136 million in a prospective grant while the remaining USD 60 million will be provided from TMEA.

The programme, to be implemented in two phases, was announced yesterday at the port when TMEA in partnership with DFID, World Bank and Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) launched the demolition of Sheds 2 and 3 as part of DMGP. The demolition of the sheds seeks to create more space so that the port can accommodate the increase in the number of containers, TMEA said in a release.

World Bank senior operations officer, Mr Monthe Bienvenu Biyoudi, who represented the bank’s country director for Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi, said the investment excludes the complimentary private investment injected in the port.

“This sum also excludes the essential investment in the access infrastructure, three access roads; the Kilwa, Nyerere and Mandela roads together with proposed Southern bypass between Dar es Salaam Port round to the airport and then to Kibaha, which the World Bank and partners will be providing in parallel,” said Mr Biyoudi.

He added the World Bank board is expected to approve the USD 400 million loan in December.