Tanzania’s government signed a grant agreement with the (Japan International Cooperation Agency) JICA in Dar es Salaam on February 4, 2022, to give grant funding of up to 36,000 US dollars for the much-needed Kigoma Port project. Kigoma Port is now the largest terminal in eastern Tanzania, functioning as a center for the Central Corridor, which connects Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia.
The port, which was built in 1922 and opened five years later, serves as the primary entry point for commerce originating in Tanzania and/or the Port of Dar es Salaam. Cargo can be trucked or railed from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma, then transshipped onto lake vessels to Mpulung (Zambia), different locations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Uvira, Kalemie, Baraka, Moba), and the Port of Bujumbura in Burundi.
Kigoma Port Rehabilitation Project Unlocking Economic Potential
Mr. Manga Gassaya, Tanzania’s Port Manager for Lake Tanganyika ports, regards the imminent restoration of Kigoma Port as an important move by the Tanzanian government, claiming that the project will unlock the economic potentials of western areas and the country as a whole. He claims that the project would increase the capacity of Lake Tanganyika’s second-longest-serving port by constructing a passenger terminal building, rehabilitating the passenger pier, and improving access roads.
When completed, the project will significantly increase our port’s capacity and enable dependable and consistent people and commodity transportation along the coasts of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania and neighboring countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Zambia. According to Gassaya, improvements in people mobility and freight distribution along Lake Tanganyika’s coast and in its hinterland would stimulate commerce between Tanzania and its landlocked neighbors and other economic activity.
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The development of the paved access road will improve freight traffic performance while lowering vehicle operating costs. The initiative is projected to cut freight processing time in half to less than three days. The Kigoma Port project will increase cargo truck operability and reduce congestion caused by the growth of a port area. This will significantly save freight handling time. With the revitalization of trade and commercial operations and the timely and reliable delivery of humanitarian relief supplies surrounding Lake Tanganyika, the rehabilitation of Kigoma Port will greatly contribute to peace and stability in the Great Lakes area.
More Benefits of the Kigoma Port Rehabilitation Project
JICA regards the project as a possible intervention toward the achievement of SDGs 8 and 9, which emphasize decent labor, economic growth, industry, innovation, and infrastructure development. The Kigoma Port project will work in tandem with the development of Burundi’s Bujumbura port. Dr. Tilly Maleko, the Burundian Ambassador to Tanzania, stated recently during a tour to the Kigoma Region that the two-port projects will strengthen commercial connections and benefit the economies of the two East African nations.
Dr. Maleko suggested that carrying products across the lake would be easier than utilizing surface transportation and that the reconstruction of the Kigoma and Bujumbura ports would make freight prices affordable to average inhabitants in both nations. Kigoma Port is Tanzania’s sole port with a working railway connection that connects directly to the Dar es Salaam seaport.
The continuing Standard Gauge Railways (SGR) development would only ensure reliable connectivity between Dar es Salaam Port and Kigoma Port to Lake Tanganyika’s neighboring nations. Last year, President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s sixth-phase government presented a proposal to build a new bigger ship capable of transporting 600 passengers comfortably as well as 400 tons of cargo to aid boost freight and passenger traffic on Lake Tanganyika.
According to Government Spokesperson Gerson Msigwa, the government would invest 105 billion/- (USD 45 million) in the project, and another cargo vessel with a capacity of 2,700 tons will be built in Kigoma at the cost of 100 billion/-. The contracts for the new boats were signed in June 2021. The completion of ship construction projects and the upcoming restoration of the Port of Kigoma will be critical in unleashing enormous economic potential in Tanzania and neighboring nations around Lake Tanganyika.
