Africa-Press – Tanzania. PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania and her Zambian counterpart Hakainde Hichilema have agreed on revamping the 1,860-kilometre Tanzania-Zambia Railways (TAZARA) from metre gauge to standard gauge railway through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
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.
The other areas which were discussed included trade and investment, electricity grid-connectivity as well as addressing challenges facing long-haul drivers and small-scale traders across the border of the two countries.
The grid-connectivity will connect Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya with prospects of selling surplus electricity to other countries in the region.
“My colleague Hichilema has informed me that Zambia produces 90 per cent of its electricity through clean energy sources but I can assure you that completion of ongoing projects in Tanzania will reach 100 per cent of clean energy,” Ms Samia noted.
The two leaders also deliberated on easing trade barriers at the Nakonde-Tunduma One Stop Border Post (OSBP) to facilitate smooth movement of people and goods across the border.
Ms Samia as well reached out to Zambia to provide Tanzania with improved seeds of soybeans at affordable prices since the former has high quality varieties of the crop, which has a huge market potential in China.
“We have directed our ministers to meet and deliberate on how Tanzania can benefit from Zambia’s improved seeds of the crop at affordable prices,” she stated.
In the same development, President Samia said the people of Zambia can benefit from Tanzania by supplying cattle, goats and sheep since the latter has a vast potential of meat market for exports but it is held back by limited supply.
The two leaders also directed the Ministers of Foreign Affairs from the two countries to convene a meeting of the Joint Permanent Commission (JPC) between Tanzania and Zambia. The last JPC between Tanzania and Zambia was held in the year 2016.
They also directed ministers and heads of security and organs from the two countries to meet regularly to iron issues regarding to trade, investment and security given the threat of terrorism in the region.
After the joint-press conference, the two leaders witnessed signing of three Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) out of which, two were on security and defence, while one MoU was cooperation in culture and arts.
The documents were signed by Tanzania’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Amb Liberata Mulamula and Zambia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Stanley Kakubo.
Tanzania and Zambia have shared friendly relations from time immemorial and their citizens are considered to be the same people separated only by the colonial boundaries.
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