Stakeholders Meet in Arusha to Discuss Mwambani Economic Corridor East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 22 July 2013: Stakeholders met today in Arusha at the Mt. Meru Hotel is discuss the planned new deep sea port, railway transport and logistics corridor across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and Tanzania dubbed the ‘Mwambani Economic Corridor’. In his opening remarks, EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Planning and Infrastructure, Dr. Enos Bukuku acknowledged that the Ports of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa were already experiencing significant capacity stress and would not be able to provide the requisite capacity support to the region in the near future. “The Port of Mwambani is thus a welcome additional capacity that will come in handy in bridging the capacity shortfall at the two major established ports in the EAC region,” he added. The existing ports in the region suffer haulage incapacitation due in particular to poor state of the connecting railways. To this end, D. Bukuku noted that the poor railways performance has seen the cost of transport along the two main East African corridors (Central and Northern) skyrocket to some of the highest per ton transport costs in the world not to mention the costly destruction of the adjoining roads infrastructure by overloaded trucks. “The EAC heads of State have decided that all new railways development will be on standard gauge. It is therefore, with high expectation that we look forward to development of a brand new Mwambani Port connected to a high efficiency standard gauge railway network,” he added. At their 2nd Retreat on Infrastructure Development and Financing in November 2012, the EAC Heads of State directed the EAC Council of Ministers to develop the necessary legislation and regulatory framework to enable private sector participation. Dr. Bukuku stated that the shortfall of infrastructure investment in the region is in the order of US$ 40 – 50 billion in the next ten years noting there exists huge and exciting business potential for the private sector. The Mwambani Port and Railway Corridor when implemented will not only provide a land bridge from the Indian Ocean Port of Mwambani but will also open up vast land areas, improve connectivity and usher in new areas for development in agriculture and mining across its path. With the completion of the Project, the region can envision the establishment of agro-processing industries to lengthen the value-chain, stepped up mining and agricultural activities as well as increased demand for social and economic services along the railway corridor including but not limited to housing, warehouses, office complexes, electricity, gas, water and information and communication technologies (ICTs). Notes to Editors: The East African Community in pursuance of cross border economic integration, trade and investment has indentified the concept of “Logistics and Value Corridors” as a viable engine of sustainable Economic Transformation. The EAC has and continues to consider various cross border projects that are in line with the above. The EAC has identified the Mwambani Economic Corridor (MEC), which involves the development of the following; 1. A new Deep Sea Port in Tanga Region on the Indian Ocean, in Tanzania of up to twenty five (25) metres capable of handling the latest Valemax Bulkers of 400,000 DWT and 8th Generation Container Ships capable of carrying at least 15,000 TEUs. 2. A backbone/ primary 7000km of standard gauge railway heavy haul infrastructure, which shall link the new Deep Sea Port in Tanzania to Uganda and onwards to Kisangani via Kinshasa to Banana (Atlantic Ocean) in DRC. 3. A Utilities Corridor within the proposed rights of way that shall include; a high capacity broadband fiber optic, petroleum, water and gas pipelines and power transmission and 4. Railway Towns and Special Economic Zones at key strategic locations along the Mwambani Economic Corridor. The MEC is purposely designed to spur and attract major new investments in agriculture, tourism, trade, communications, real-estate, industries, mining and manufacturing. A key unique feature of the MWAPORC project is the opportunity it offers indigenous people, institutions and other private investors in Africa to co-own a major cross border income generating infrastructure project. The project consulting Engineers are Mott MacDonald (UK) and the project developers are MWAPORC Co. Ltd –Tanzania.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 10:42:05 +0000
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