Once completed, the project will see the Dar Port handle 28 million tonnes by 2020, from the 14.6 million tonnes it handled in 2013/14.
Sheds 2 and 3 will be demolished to create an additional 22 square metres of working space.
The Dar es Salaam port is set for a major facelift that is expected to help double the cargo volume it handles by 2020.
The $596 million project, jointly funded by the World Bank, the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) and TradeMark East Africa (TMEA), involves demolition of parts of the port in order to increase the working space.
The reconstruction will involve deepening of berths 1-7, the dredging of the entrance channel and turning basin to allow bigger vessels to dock.
The World Bank is contributing $400 million as a loan under the Dar es Salaam Maritime Gateway Project (DMGP) while DfID is giving $136 million in a grant. The remaining $60 million will come from TMEA.
Once completed, the project will see the Dar Port handle 28 million tonnes by 2020, from the 14.6 million tonnes it handled in 2013/14. Sheds 2 and 3 will be demolished to create an additional 22 square metres of working space.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport Dr Shaaban Mwinjaka recently launched the project.
Speaking at the launch, World Bank senior operations officer Monthe Bienvenu Biyoudi said the Bank will approve the $400 loan in December.
He said it will also finance additional work on three access roads — Kilwa, Nyerere and Mandela — and the new southern bypass from the port round to the Julius Nyerere International Airport and then to Kibaha suburb on the way to the Tanzania hinterland.
According to David Stanton, TMEA director-general, the first phase, to be funded by his organisation, will involve demolition and relocation of sheds 2-7, and upgrading of the roads that lead to gates 4, 5 and 8 as well as installing new scanners for gates 4 and 8 in a bid to ensure better traffic flow and an integrated security system.
Modernising berths
The second phase, to be financed by the World Bank and DfID, will include dredging the channel and basin as well as modernising berths 1-7.
Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo have agreed to use the Dar es Salaam port as their preferred port once the central railway is upgraded from the current metre gauge to standard gauge to ease transportation of goods through the Central Corridor.
“This project is timely and shall be completed in time. The Tanzanian government is committed to making it a reality,” Dr Mwinjaka said at the launch.
In March, the TPA management pledged to modernise the port to effectively serve East, Central and Southern Africa.
In 2014, 630,000 tonnes of cargo destined for Rwanda passed through the Dar es Salaam port. Another 1.5 million tonnes of cargo destined for the DRC also passed through the port.
The Dar es Salaam port serves seven neighbouring countries — DRC, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
