All eyes were in Dar es Salaam last week as leaders of East African Community launched construction of the East Africa’s Central Corridor railway-line that will link up land-locked countries of the region to the port of Dar es Salaam.

President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi flagged off block trains to their countries from Dar es Salaam using the Central Railway line.

DRC Congo President, Joseph Kabila was represented by his Minister for Transport, Justin Kalunga Mgwana Ngongo.

The block trains are designated to transport exclusively, consignments directly to Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, without any interruptions or delays, according to the Minister for Transport, Samwel Sitta.

The cargo will be transported directly from the Dar es Salaam Port to the borders of the respective countries where they will be received by local trains.

It is projected that the time used to reach the final destination will be cut down from two weeks to just two days. And hardly had the dust settled, the government announced launching of construction of a new standard gauge railway from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma. and to begin this year.

The Minister for Transport, Samwel Sitta told reporters in Dar es Salaam last Sunday that it is planned that the construction of the 2500 kilometres railway will be launched done in June this year.

The new developments in the central corridor happen when regional countries are undertaking measures to free trade by Non-Tariff Barriers the corridor was infamous for by removing multiple weighbridges, police and customs checks along the route and introduce computerised clearance and electronic tracking and other innovations.

Opening an EAC Heads of State summit in Bujumbura Burundi a few days ago, President Kikwete urged partner states to spare no efforts to remove NTBs in the region to spur the integration process.

He said measures were being taken in earnest to reduce road blocks on the Tanzania side of the Central Corridor. “The progress made so far, at the ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam and, on the Northern Corridor with regard to road blocks shows that it is possible to eliminate these non-tariff barriers.

Measures are being taken in earnest to reduce road blocks on the Tanzania side of the Central Corridor. I am sure in the next few months we will notice a huge improvement”, he said.

“Police check points have been reduced from 15 points to 6. Our aim to reduce them to none except when need arises,” he said noting Tanzania Revenue Authority had also reduced the checks from 3 to zero along the central corridor.

“I am told with the current improvements alone, for a container to move from the port of Dar es Salaam to Kigali takes 3 days from the previous 8 days. It takes three and a half days to Bujumbura from the previous 8 days”, he reiterated. The EAC leaders expressed optimism that a vibrant central corridor will further open the landlocked countries of the East African region to the Indian Ocean and ease that their imports and exports transportation.

The cost of doing business in EAC is very high relative to other regional blocs due to poor state of regional transport infrastructure and sub-optimal mix pf transport modes.

These high costs have a significant impact on the lives of people living in the region. Transportation expenses are passed on to small businesses and consumers.

The World Bank estimates that logistics costs account for 40 per cent of consumer prices in East Africa. Experts say effective railway network gives more than 50 per cent competitive advantage over trucks in East Africa.

President Museveni cited the example of the Northern Corridor that runs from the Kenyan port of Mombasa to the Great Lakes that Uganda uses most, saying it now costs $3,200 to transport one container.

But if the ongoing and projected improvement of the Central Corridor is completed, he added, the cost of ferrying the same cargo will drop to $1,650, making it the preferred choice.

Source: Tanzania Daily News

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