Tanzania: construction of Isaka-Kigali Standard Gauge Railway to start this year

President John Magufuli and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, have agreed to start the construction of the standard gauge railways (SGR) from Isaka to Kigali this year as part of efforts to connect Rwanda to Dar es Salaam port.

The 400-km-long railway will be jointly financed by the two countries, President Magufuli has told reporters on January 14.

“We want Foreign Ministers from the two countries to meet next week to start charting the financing model. We want the construction to start immediately because the feasibility studies and all other preparations are complete,” President Magufuli noted.

“President Kagame and I want to unveil the foundation stone to usher the construction this year,” he added.

Tanzania has already started construction of the SGR in two phases, from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro (330km) and from Morogoro to Makutupora in Dodoma (426km) using locally sourced funds of Sh7 trillion.

“Both President Magufuli and I, have said we are even ready to look for loans to speed up the construction,” President Magufuli noted.