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[QUOTE="Nehanda, post: 23993, member: 2262"]
Tanzania Signs $2.1 Billion Rail Deal with Chinese Firms.

Tanzania Railway Corporation signed a $2.1 billion contract with Chinese companies on Thursday to build an electric railway linking Tanzania and Burundi.

The 282-kilometer line will run from Uvinza, Tanzania, to Musongati, Burundi. China Railway Construction Engineering Group and China Railway Major Bridge Group will build the track.

"This adds to our second phase of railway development," said TRC Director General Masanja Kadogosa. The African Development Bank funds the project, set for completion in six years.

The route includes seven-passenger stations and a freight depot. A one-kilometer bridge will connect the two countries, serving both trains and cars.

Chen Yun, chairman of China Railway Construction, noted his firm's history in Tanzania. The company built the Tanzania-Zambia Railway five decades ago.

"We will build this railway to high standards," Yun said. He called it a key project in China's Belt and Road plan.

AfDB transport engineer Mumina Wa-Kyendo said the railway would join other networks in East and Southern Africa. The bank has invested $2.5 billion in Tanzania's transport sector.

Finance Minister Mwigulu Nchemba said funding is waiting for the work to start. "This marks the first AfDB railway funding in East Africa," he said.

Burundi's Infrastructure Minister Dieudonné Dukundane said construction teams would arrive within two weeks of signing.

The line branches from Tanzania's Tabora-Kigoma railway at Uvinza. Kadogosa said that the section is 7% complete.
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