TZ eyes 25 projects along Lake Tanganyika

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania has identified 25 development projects, which will be implemented along Lake Tanganyika, aimed at unlocking the inordinately-high transport costs, which currently stand at an exorbitant 40 per cent.

The ‘twenty-five’ are among a total of 75 projects to be implemented along Lake Tanganyika by the riparian states of Burundi, DRC, Tanzania and Zambia.

A statement issued yesterday by the Central Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency (CCTTFA) said Burundi has 15 of the projects; DRC: 10; Rwanda: five, and Uganda: seven. Another 15 were positioned as ‘regional’ projects.

Some of the Tanzania-targeted projects are modernization of the Kigoma port; construction of the Karema port in Katavi, region; the Katosho inland container terminal in Kigoma, and the Manyovu/Mugina one-stop border post (O-SBP) on the Tanzania Burundi common border. The World Bank Group (WBG) has said it will support the design and implementation of the ‘Lake Tanganyika Integrated Transport and Environmental Programs’ (LTITEP). The Group has also reaffirmed that its transport and environment teams will work in a coordinated manner to support the development of an integrated approach to activities in and around the lake. The CCTTFA executive secretary, Capt. Dieudonne Dukundane, says the high transport costs – as well as the dilapidated lake ports infrastructure and equipment –are the main challenges confronting the population of about 60 million within the Lake Tanganyika basin.

The director-general of Customs and Trade of the east African Community (EAC), Mr. Kenneth Bagamuhunda – speaking on behalf of the EAC secretary-general, Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko – said integrated and efficient transport and logistics systems were critical to attaining competitive economies in the region.

Mr Bagamuhunda says the Lake Tanganyika transport initiative is poised to bring about numerous benefits for the riparian states and communities along the lake in terms of reduced transport costs and safer, more secure and environment-friendly shipping across the lake.

The statement said that CCTTFA – working in collaboration with four of the six EAC partner states – has agreed to prepare a detailed spatial project database for the Lake Tanganyika transport and environmental programs.

The facilitation agency also agreed that project implementers and coordinators must collaborate closely with development partners in finalizing project preparation and packaging plans.

The identified projects were put together by governments, donors and regional bodies (CCTTFA, EAC and LTA), and were categorized by country, region, sector and type.

The Burundi minister for transport, public works and equipment, Eng. Jean Bosco Ntunzwenimana, noted that the communities along Lake Tanganyika were enduring the cost of transport on export and import consignments of up to 40 per cent of the value of the goods being transported.

Minister Ntunzwenimana noted that a multimodal transport (central railway to Lake Tanganyika) can bring down transport costs to about 30 per cent, compared to the road transport.