TRC board demands speedy construction of railway connecting Dar Port

DAR ES SALAAM: NEW board of directors of the Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC) has directed the contractor of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), Yapi Merkezi, to speed up the construction of railway linking the Dar es Salaam Port with cargo destinations.

The board made directive recently after inspecting the progress of the Dar es Salaam-Morogoro SGR construction project, which has so far completed by 98.54 per cent.

During the inspection, members of the board traversed from Dar es Salaam railway station (Diamond station) to the TRC workshop in Morogoro.

Board Chairperson, Mr Ally Karavina, said the progress of the project was going on well.

He commended the previous board for supervising the project well, noting that the new board will be dealing with uncompleted parts of the project.

He said the project is set for trials in the next three months.

“Considering that we are new, we wanted first to familiarise with the project, so we have decided to see the progress. We have been surprised to see this good progress,” said Mr Karavina.

TRC said the locomotives for the project are expected to arrive in Dar es Salaam in three months from now and upon arrival, they will be tested before the official routes begin.

Elaborating on the importance of the SGR project, chairman Karavina said the implementation of such geographical strategic infrastructure was highly needed since businesses will be conducted regionally.

The SGR project is expected to pass numerous regions including Dar es Salaam, Morogoro, Dodoma, Mwanza, Tabora and Kigoma.

On her part, TRC’s Acting Managing Director Amina Lumuli said the major aim for their visit was to make sure that the project becomes more productive and of value to both the government and the people.