Strategic projects key in Samia's 2022 drive

Dar es Salaam. President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s gracing of an occasion to allow water to flow into the hydropower dam today reminds pundits how execution of mega projects has been her government’s key performance indicators (KPIs) throughout the year 2022.

Apart from the 2,115 MW Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project, other strategic ventures that received a lion’s share of the government’s development budget and new push for their speedy execution in 2022 included the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line, the $30 billion (about Sh70 trillion) Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant as well as education, health and water projects. Equally important would be the progress of construction of roads and bridges, including some flyovers in Dar es Salaam and the Kigongo-Busisi Bridge in Mwanza.

Water is expected to start flowing into the dam at the 2,115 MW Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project today and the expectation is that required level [of water] will be reached for the turbines to be turned on by April, 2023.

Available data show that actual construction of the Sh6.5 trillion project has been expedited during the past few months of the current calendar year.

A hydrologist at the Rufiji Basin water office, Mr David Munkyala, told journalists earlier this month that they expected actual construction to reach at least 80 percent as of December 15, 2022.

Energy minister January Makamba said in August that until that time (August), the project had been built by 67.18 percent.

That was a massive leap compared to 37.4 percent that was done between December 2018 and June 2021.

“The work completed in just one year to July 2022 is equal to the work done in the first two and half years of the project,” Mr Makamba told journalists who toured the project in August.

This suggests that in just one year to July 2022, the rate of the implementation of the project – which has employed 12,000 people – with Tanzanians accounting for 90 percent, has more than doubled.

Construction of the project - which has a strategic importance to Tanzania’s economic development endeavours - started in December 2018 as part of the government’s wider energy mix goal which also partly seeks to bring down electricity costs.

It was initially meant to be completed in June 2022 but was delayed due to several factors, including disruptions in delivery of some vital construction materials due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. Completion of the project will increase Tanzania’s power generation by 136 percent.

Currently, the figure stands at 1,695 MW.

All set for SGR grand testing

The government has also focused its efforts and poured massive sums of money into the SGR project in 2022.

Available data show that the Dar es Salaam-Morogoro section was almost done and that technicians were only putting in final touches. Similarly, actual construction of the Morogoro-Makutupora section is also at advanced stages.

Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) says SGR train services between Dar es Salaam and Morogoro are slated for February next year, covering a distance of 300 kilometres.

Where your money goes

Speaking in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, (December 20, 2022) when she witnessed the signing of a $2.2-billion contract between TRC and Chinese companies (CCECC and CRCC) to build the final section of the SGR line, President Hassan reminded Tanzanians that the task of building mega projects required massive funds that compelled the country to borrow.

She said Tanzania’s investment in the SGR had now reached $10.04 billion (Sh24 trillion), including the latest contract.

“We have to borrow for this important infrastructure and other sustainable development projects because we don’t have enough local resources,” she said, dismissing criticism that the country was taking on too much debt.

The construction of the 506-km final section of the SGR from Tabora to Kigoma would be completed in 2026.

This would put Tanzania on the right path to effectively utilize its strategic geographical positioning to facilitate cross-border trade.

She said the new railway would reduce cargo transportation costs between the Dar es Salaam port and the DR Congo from a minimum of $6,000 per tonne to about $4,000 once it becomes fully operational.

Similarly, transportation time would fall from 30 days by lorries to 30 hours in 2027.

Late last year, when she witnessed the signing of an agreement for the construction of the third phase of the SGR connecting Makutupora to Tabora between TRC and Yapi Merkezi of Turkey President Hassan said the government would look at any convenient way to borrow on concessional terms to finance the project.

She stated categorically that major projects cannot be found by the money collected from local taxes.

TRC figures show that the recently signed agreement brings the total length of Tanzania’s SGR to 2,102 kilometres.

LNG dream finally coming to fruition

The year 2022 will also go down in history as the year when the government and foreign investors signed several critical agreements in the development of Tanzania’s LNG project.

It was mid this year when the Government and Shell and Equinor companies signed the Preliminary Agreement of the Host Government Agreement (HGA).

Speaking during the event signing ceremony in Dodoma, President Hassan termed the LNG project as a ‘massive, strategic and special’ one largely due to its capital intensity nature and the anticipated revenue.

The final HGA is now slated for February .

Dar es Salaam flyovers and Kigongo-Busisi Bridge

While technicians were currently putting final touches on the Chang’ombe and Uhasibu flyovers in Dar es Salaam, in Mwanza, the Kigongo-Busisi Bridge is almost half-way done.

When he toured the Kigongo-Busisi Bridge in October, this year, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa was informed that its actual construction has reached 53.66 percent.

Actual construction of the 3.2 kilometres bridge across the Gulf of Mwanza started in December 2019 but as of July 2021, the progress of works was reported at 27 percent.

It is expected that completion of the $308.88 million project will see Tanzania hosting the longest bridge in East Africa and the sixth-longest on the African continent.

The bridge links the areas of Kigongo in Mwanza and Busisi in Geita, cutting crossing time from thirty-five minutes by ferry to four minutes by automobile.