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| President Samia Suluhu Hassan receives visiting Zambian President, Hakainde Hichilema at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam on 2 August 2022. |
This was revealed at a joint-press conference at the State House in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday during a one-day state visit by the Zambian President in Tanzania at the invitation of his host President Samia.
“SGR (standard gauge railway) is the way forward in the world today, we have thus agreed to solicit funds together through PPP and also by engaging our partners who assisted us in construction of TAZARA,” Ms Samia said during a joint-press conference in the commercial city.
The two leaders noted with concern that TAZARA and the 1,710-kilometre Tanzania-Zambia Mafuta Pipeline (TAZAMA), which were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s through funding from the government of China, have been underperforming in recent years.
They, thus, agreed to revamp the two ventures by upgrading TAZARA to SGR and construction of a new TAZAMA pipeline with a wider diameter to transport refined petroleum products from Dar es Salaam port to Zambia.
“Our Zambian counterparts have informed us that the refinery which has been used to refine crude oil in their country is no longer in use since they now import refined oil.
“As such, the revamped TAZAMA pipeline will be used to transport refined petroleum products as opposed to crude products to which it was earlier designed to transport,” Ms Samia explained.
During their closed-door meeting, Presidents Samia and Hichilema also discussed strengthening of cooperation in defense and security in addition to addressing tax-related and non-tariff barriers between the two neighbouring countries.
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