Tanzania, Burundi launch $2.15 billion cross-border SGR to boost trade, cut travel time
The 240-kilometre line is scheduled for completion by 2030 and is expected to significantly cut travel times while boosting regional trade and connectivity.
Tanzania and Burundi have broken ground on a $2.15 billion (Sh278.4 billion) standard gauge railway (SGR) linking Uvinza in western Tanzania to Musongati in eastern Burundi, marking East Africa’s first cross-border SGR project.
The 240-kilometre line is scheduled for completion by 2030 and is expected to significantly cut travel times while boosting regional trade and connectivity.
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“Once completed, passengers will be able to travel from Musongati to Dar es Salaam in a single day. Currently, cargo trucks take up to 96 hours to reach Bujumbura from Dar es Salaam. With the railway, that journey will be reduced to just 20 hours,” Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said during the groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday.
He noted that the railway would not only ease passenger and freight transport but also unlock new investment opportunities and deepen economic ties between the two countries.
Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye hailed the project as the fulfilment of a long-awaited dream. Highlighting Burundi’s rich mineral reserves, particularly nickel, he said investors had long doubted how the country would export its resources.
“When I contacted mining companies for its exploitation, they asked me how we would evacuate all this ore, and I had no answer. This is truly the beginning of a robust development for Burundi,” he said.
“Many asked how we would transport the minerals. This railway is the answer.”
President Ndayishimiye also revealed ambitions to eventually extend the line beyond Burundi, connecting it through Kindu in the Democratic Republic of Congo and stretching to the Atlantic coast of West Africa, which he described as a continent-spanning development corridor.
Burundian Prime Minister Nestor Ntahontuye added that the project would drastically reduce the country’s transport costs, saving an estimated $36 million (Sh4.7 billion) every month on imports and exports.
According to Lin Xiaotong, a representative of China Railway Group Limited, the consortium leading construction, the fully electrified line will be built to the international 1,435 mm standard gauge.
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