Tanzania is no longer socialist and is now the darling of America. Apart from its own vast mineral, oil and gas deposits, Tanzania is the new gateway to the DRC and is receiving mammoth investment from both China and America. China is building what is being called a “mega port” for Tanzania at Bagamoyo, which is more than 30 times the size of Mombasa, as part of a $10 billion investment package for Tanzania. When completed, it is bound to take away all central Africa business from Mombasa port, which will be left to serve only Kenya and Uganda. READ: US President Barack Obama arrives in Tanzania READ: China, Tanzania sign partnership deal To underpin the importance of Tanzania to China, the Chinese President Xi Jinping travelled to Tanzania in March this year to personally deliver the deal. President Obama has recently visited the country and launched the “Power Africa” project, a $ 7 billion project to produce 10,000 MW of electricity to sub-Saharan Africa. Kenya was not part of the deal. In the meantime, our signature project, Lapsset, to connect Lamu to South Sudan is failing to attract investors and, in fact, a new deal is being negotiated by South Sudan and its northern neighbours to take the project upwards connecting the South Sudan to the Red Sea. The new deal is said to be better for South Sudan and there is a real danger that Lapsset may never see the light of day. Sudan is itself fighting to convince the southern nation that it should continue exporting its crude through the pipeline to Port Sudan.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 13:22:47 +0000
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