According to Tanzania’s 2025 Development Vision, the government has prioritized the development of road networks which is the most widely used form of Transport carrying over 90% of passengers and 75% of cargo in the country.

The road network in Tanzania currently comprises 86,472 kilometers of roads, of which 12,786 kilometers are trunk roads, 21,105 kilometers are regional roads and the remaining 52,581 kilometers are district, urban and feeder roads.

Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS) is managing the national road network of about 33,891 kilometers, comprising 12,786 kilometers of the trunk and 21,105 kilometers of regional roads.

The country is growing at an enormous pace and building new roads accordantly.

The government has also made effort to develop air transport in the country through construction of new airports and terminals.

In 2019, the AfDB approved a USD272.12 million loan to Tanzania for the construction of a new international airport in the capital Dodoma.

The new airport will be built in the district of Msalato, 12 kilometers from the capital Dodoma.

The new facility is expected to handle at least 50,000 aircraft and one million passengers per year.

Tanzania is aiming to construct and rehabilitate several additional airports in the country as part of their national and international air service capacity to accommodate the local and international business flow.

The United Republic of Tanzania lies in the Great Lakes region of East Africa.

It is bordered by the Indian Ocean on its eastern coastline, which is dotted with the three major seaports of the country namely Dar Es Salaam, Tanga and the port of Mtwara which handle all the international maritime trade of the country.

The biggest trade partners of Tanzania include India, UAE, Saudi Arabia, China and Switzerland.

Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) is implementing several major projects as part of their national ports strategy agenda in order to create capacity for the expected demand and services to all 8 neighboring countries which 6 of them are landlocked.

One such project is the Dar es Salaam Maritime Gateway Project (DMGP).

DMGP plans to improve port effectiveness and efficiency by converting the port into a world-class port with optimized efficiency to accommodate the calling and reception of larger vessels. Also, the Bagamoyo Port project is set to be constructed in Bagamoyo, Tanzania.

It is planned to be one of the largest government infrastructure projects in the country with an estimated cost of USD10 Billion.

The Bagamoyo port and its affiliate industrial zone are meant to address congestion at the old port and support Tanzania to become East Africa’s leading shipping and logistics center.

When fully developed, the Bagamoyo Special Economic Zone will attract about 700 industries and 1700 industrial zones to become a strategic investment zone in East Africa.

Tanzania is investing in its national port infrastructure as a strategic financial and political strength in the African continent for the long-term future of Tanzania.
 

This is another important mode of transport linking regions within and outside Tanzania.

Tanzania has a total of 3,676km of railway lines operated by two railway systems, Tanzania Railway Corporation and Tanzania Zambia Railways (TAZARA).

The new standard gauge railway is under construction to replace the old inefficient meter gauge railway system. The railway system will link Tanzania with neighboring countries of Rwanda and Uganda and through these two, to Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as part of the East African Railway Master Plan.

Up until February 2020, the government of Tanzania was using locally generated funds and short-term temporary loans to fund the construction of the first two phases of this standard gauge railway project.

In February 2020, the government received a syndicated loan worth USD1.46 billion, for the completion of the first two phases of the national SGR.

The financing package has Standard Chartered as the lead arranger and the Export Credit Agencies of Denmark and Sweden, as major funding sources.

The combined contract value for the first two phases is USD2.35 billion with USD950 million worth of funding to be organized by the Tanzania Ministry of Finance and the remaining USD1.45 billion by Yapı Merkezi.

Tanzania  keeps expanding its railway infrastructure with additional related projects for the benefit of the regional trade in the continent and for the future of the Tanzanian economy.