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Tanzania’s Vice-President Dr Philip Isdor Mpango laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Tabora-Isaka section of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in January 2023. 

The 165-kilometre stretch, covering 130 kilometres of rail and 35 kilometres of intersections, is the fourth phase of Tanzania’s SGR, a 2,561 kilometres-long railway line linking the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam to Mwanza on Lake Victoria.

The SGR network is being executed in six phases:

• Phase 1: Dar es Salaam-Morogoro.
• Phase 2: Morogoro-Makutupora.
• Phase 3: Makutupora-Tabora.
• Phase 4: Tabora-Isaka.
• Phase 5: Isaka-Mwanza.
• Phase 6: Tabora-Kigoma.

Phase 1 has reached 97.77% completion. Phase 2 is at 91.79%, phase 3 at 3.95%, and phase 5 is at 22.71%, according to Ndugu Masanja Kadogosa, director-general of the state-owned Tanzania Railways Corporation.

Turkey's Yapi Merkezi will be constructing the fourth phase of the railway. The work is expected to be completed in about 42 months by March 2026, at a cost of US$900 million. 
 
At the groundbreaking ceremony, Mpango said the project is aimed at reducing travel times and the cost of transporting goods and people across the country, while also ensuring that Tanzania is accessible from and into eastern and southern Africa. 

The government has signed contracts to buy 89 passenger carriages, 19 electric train heads and 10 modern train sets at a total cost of US$513 million. 

MAKAMU WA RAIS WA JAMHURI YA MUUNGANO WA TANZANIA MHE. DKT. PHILIP MPANGO AWEKA JIWE LA MSINGI MRADI WA UJENZI WA RELI YA KISASA - SGR TABORA - ISAKA (KM165) pic.twitter.com/dzfDLdgEU5

— Tanzania - SGR Project 🇹🇿 (@SGR_tz) January 18, 2023

According to official statistics, the project has so far employed more than 20,000 direct workers and implemented tenders worth US$820 million, while the government has collected taxes totalling US$450 million, said the vice-president.

Behewa za SGR zaanza kuwasili nchini Tanzania. pic.twitter.com/YLzKV84csT

— Tanzania - SGR Project 🇹🇿 (@SGR_tz) November 23, 2022

Top Photo: The Morogoro Railway station (@SGR_tz Twitter Handle | Tanzania - SGR Project)