Tanga Region is set to benefit immensely from the Mwambani Port and Railway Corridor (MWAPORC) project that envisages transforming the regional economy.
Tanga regional commissioner Chiku Gallawa
The Mwambani project includes the construction of a deep sea and free port as well as a new heavy haul standard gauge railway that will link the Indian Ocean from Tanzania through Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Tanga Regional Commissioner (RC) Chiku Gallawa told the ‘Daily News’ in a telephone interview that, “We expect the regional economy to boom and even surpass other regions in contributions to country’s GDP.”
She said the regional authority has initiated a programme to assess the number of professional and non-professional youths in the region for proper planning on how to accommodate them (youths) in the project execution. Under MWAPORC, at least 20,000 new jobs are expected to be created in the country during the construction period.
The region in particular and the country in general will enjoy economic boom as the new Railway, Port and Free Port Investments stimulate agro-development, real estate and manufacturing activities, creating thousands of new jobs.
The free port at Tanga, to be constructed adjacent to the new deep sea port, will host manufacturing, logistics and other service industries. Key anchor activities shall include an integrated iron and steel manufacturing cluster.
Mr Cuthbert Tenga, Co-director at Mwaporc told the ‘Daily News’ in an interview that the deep sea port will allow direct shipping from international ports, cutting the cost of logistics for exporters and importers.
The cost of ferrying one tone per kilometre, for instance, is estimated at 0.5 US dollar. Upon completion of the project, the 51tri/- business hub port project will be ferrying over 100 million tones of cargo annually, the volume that is projected to surpass the capacity of the Dar es Salaam port. He said the port will be in the level of the hub port like Durban.
Source Tanzania Daily News
