The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) has entered into a partnership agreement with the Dar es Salaam Corridor Group (DCG) to develop a dry port at the terminal end of the railway in Kapiri Mposhi, Zambia.
Construction of the dry port on the four-hectare piece of land near the terminal is expected to begin soon. A gantry crane with 36 metric tonnes of lifting capacity has already been installed which DCG will operate for 25 years. Thereafter it will transfer all immovable assets back to Tazara.
“We are glad that the attorneys general of both countries signed off this agreement, but it was worth the wait because it’s a significant development, being one of the first Public-Private Partnership models to be introduced under our strategic vision of engaging the private sector in the full utilisation of Tazara’s huge idle capacity,” said Tazara managing director, Bruno Ching’andu. “Above all, this is one sure way of guaranteeing ourselves additional freight traffic that will naturally accrue from the business generated by the dry port’s operations.”
DCG chief executive officer, Jesper Sorenson, noted that the group intended to promote railways as the main mode of transportation in the logistics chain in the region.
The dry port will be an intermodal terminal directly connected to seaports in Tanzania, operating as a centre for the transhipment of cargo inland.
