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| President Magufuli inspect a section of the SGR |
By Special Correspondent, Washington
17 May, 2019: The story that Tanzania is set to
test its first, maiden, cheaper and very superior own funded electric train, is
both a smooth vibe to locals, but a bad news for some neighbours.
The train is tipped to be one of
Africa`s high speed trains with projected speeds of up to 160 mph. This however
pushes for high criticism on some neighbours like Kenya whose diesel slow engine
SGR was constructed from an expensive Chinese loan.
Through the nation’s policy and
strategy to attain the middle income economy by 2025, it is obvious and
necessary for the nation to have stable infrastructures.
The construction of a railway line
is a big pillar in the stimulation and reduction of costs and time travel by
both passengers and cargo, thanks to the government of Reformist President John
Magufuli who is implementing the SGR using own taxpayers money.
Tanzania is among few countries that
serve as a gateway for products of other land locked countries like Uganda,
Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia and DRC. So, this is the nation’s great opportunity to
invest in strong, safe and on time transport infrastructures at affordable
costs.
The world’s experts in transport
issues say that railway transport cut down costs of products from 30% to 40%
and it is a major catalyst for the growth of the economy.
Dar’s Phase One of the construction of
SGR will connect the regions of Dar es Salaam, Coast and Morogoro followed by
Phase Two to Dodoma (capital city).
#Advantages of SGR during construction
The Tanzania’s SGR first of all is a
catalytic Project envisaged in the country’s Second National Development Plan. It
is one of the flagship projects expected to stimulate growth in other sectors
like agriculture, trade, marine transport as well as industrialization.
The Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is
already benefiting the young economy of Tanzania and has until now offered
direct employment to 8,265 community members as the project has contributed to
increasing incomes of some members of the public, who are participating in its construction.
“The SGR has contributed to the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the industrialization policy bringing more
positive results as the project has increased a huge demand for the use of
cement, rods and other essential building materials,” says Yoram Kanze, a railway
expert and logistics guru in East Africa.
As the Dar es Salaam-Morogoro
section is being constructed, .local manufacturing industries are already
sowing the seeds of the hbuge investment.
The construction has thus far used about
45 million kilos of locally manufactured rods of the BS 500 standard and at
least 3 million cement bags while the Morogoro-Makutupora section is consuming
70 million kilos of rods of the same standard and 6.4 million cement bags.
“This is a huge contribution to the
construction network from local industries to the project involving different
stakeholders from product procurement to transport services, whereby a
circulation of at least 16,000 cement bags will be needed,” says Yapi Markezi
contractor.
In aadition, local contractors are
privileged to directly participate in providing services, whereby a total of
500 tendered to participating in the project, 15 are mid-contractors in the SGR
construction as they learn skills that were previously not offered in the
country’s construction sector.
#Advantages of SGR Project during
operation
An increase in the local market and
the strengthening of the Tanzania shilling or economy localization will be a
result of trains using electricity produced in the country.
“If we were to use diesel, whose
orders must be placed from outside the country, operational costs would be huge
as the use of electricity helps reduce operational costs threefold, which is
very important to the country,” says Jingu Joshua, a Yapi Markezi local
contracted engineer.
Standard gauge trains are expected
to reduce piles of cargo at the Dar es Salaam Port by ensuring that
consignments are expeditiously transported to destinations and thus making the
country increase its earnings.
Standard gauge railway cargo
transport will be expected to ferry up to 10,000 tons of cargo at a go, which
is equivalent to 500 trucks transporting the similar cargo.
The SGR is greatly expected to
reduce the number of trucks on roads, leading to the minimization of road
accidents and making roads much safer for transport.
The SGR is also expected to save
time for both passenger and cargo transport including boosting economies of
both individual persons and the nation as a whole.
Upon the completion of SGR, regular
costs of road maintenance by the government will substantially be reduced and
the saved funds could be directed to improving social services.
Not only that, but also work
performance, passenger and cargo railway transport will be expected to be
improved, thereby saving time. For instance, a trip from Dar es Salaam to
Morogoro will be expected to take 1 hour and 15 minutes and a DSM-Dodoma trip
to take only 3 hours as the SG train will have the capability of travelling 8
times per day from Dar to Dodoma compared to once a day if one takes the normal
buses.
Reducing cargo transport costs by
traders is also expected by SGR as the costs will go down by 40% to make Dar es
Salaam Port a competitive one.
The SGR spurs the establishment of
small towns, particularly in the areas, where SGR stations are constructed
because residents will be assured of reliable transport.
If one has to summarize the
multitudes of benefits accruing from the Tanzanian fast electric SGR, a simple
conclusion will be; that the project will pioneer the future of transport in
Tanzania as well as East and Central Africa.
Ends.
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