Tanzania will commence construction of a new port in the east of the country in December, a senior government official announced, ending a decade of delays due to government objections to the initial contract terms agreed with foreign developers.
According to Reuters, Bagamoyo port, part of the large-scale special economic zone initiative involving industrial parks and rail and road links, is located approximately 75 kilometers north of the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.
Gerson Msigwa, the chief government spokesperson, told reporters on Sunday that the port will have 28 berths but construction will start on 14 initially.
Construction machinery was on the way, he stated without providing further details, and the port will have a depth of up to 20 meters and be capable of receiving larger ships than any other port in the eastern Africa region.
The port will be able to handle ships with a capacity of up to 25,000 containers, he said, without providing details of the project value or the construction contractor.
The East African nation signed a framework agreement with two developers, China Merchants Holdings International and Oman’s State General Reserve Fund, in 2013 but implementation was delayed because the government stated the terms were not favorable for the country.
After taking office in 2021, President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced they had started negotiations to revive the US$10 billion project.
