Tanzania, Zambia to run Tazara separately

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania and Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) is set to implement an agreement by the partner governments for each country to take care of its side of the rail network.

Tazara said in a statement that the decision would will take effect next Tuesday when the cross-border passenger trains between Dar es Salaam and New Kapiri-Mposhi in Zambia would no longer run across the border.

Passenger trains will operate as local trains within the respective borders of the two countries.

According to the statement, passengers train operations between Dar es Salaam and the border town of Tunduma will be overseen by Tanzania while Zambia will administer operations between Nakonde on the Zambian side of the border and Kapiri-Mposhi.

“Passengers who intend to cross the border and travel by train all the way through to the other country will be required to swap trains at Tunduma-Nakonde border in order to proceed to Dar es Salaam or New Kapiri-Mposhi, respectively,” the statement said.

The development comes just a few days after Transport minister Harrison Mwakyembe said the decision was aimed at improving Tazara’s performance within three months.

He added that regional managers for both sides would be in charge of the new system and their performance would be evaluated at the end of the three months after becoming operational, he said.

The move was part of the resolutions made during a July 4 meeting of the Tazara Council of Ministers that involved ministers of Transport, Finance and Industry from both countries held in Lusaka.

However, Mr Mukanga said the pronouncement by Tanzania was not what was discussed at a Tazara Council of Ministers meeting. Mr Mukanga, however, said if that was what Tanzania wanted, the Zambian part of the rail was ready to operate as an independent entity.

“We did not discuss that... but we spoke about a mapping strategy on how we will enhance the operations of Tazara and the introduction of call centres,’’ he said.

China, which financed the construction of the railway in the early 1970s, expressed its concerns over the plan to split the management of the firm.

The Chinese ambassador to Tanzania, Mr Lu Youqing, expressed China’s readiness to finance reconstruction of the struggling Tazara if the firm is to be managed jointly as originally envisaged.

Mr Lu said Tazara is not only a symbol of friendship between his country and Tanzania and Zambia; it is also an important economic infrastructure that should not be allowed to disintegrate.

Tazara was built from 1970 to 1975 as a turnkey project financed and supported by China.

The 1,860km-rail runs from Tanzania and East Africa’s major seaport of Dar es Salaam into the heart of Zambia’s Central Province, terminating at New Kapiri-Mposhi, where it is further linked by road and rail to Zambia’s capital city, Lusaka (about 200km), Zambia’s mining nerve centre, the Copperbelt province (about 100km) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).