Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has hinted that she will revive the construction of Bagamoyo port project that was initiated in 2013.
“Regarding the Bagamoyo Port project, let me give you the good news that we have started talks to revive the whole project,” she told a gathering of the Tanzania National Business Council.
“We are going to start talks with the investors that came for the project with the aim of opening it for the benefit of our nation,” she added.
One week after assuming the Chinese presidency in March 2013, Xi Jinping visited Tanzania. Beijing state planners believed that the country could serve as the main gateway to China, where resources could be brought from across the continent and loaded onto ships headed for the mainland.
A framework agreement between China Merchants Holdings International, China’s largest port operator, and the government of Tanzania to develop a road map for the port project was signed. The ambitious plan later stalled.
Hassan’s comments come five days after speaking with Xi by phone. “China is ready to work with Tanzania to consolidate political mutual trust, strengthen mutual support,” Xi told Hassan according to Xinhua.
Reminding Hassan that Tanzania was the first African country he visited as president, Xi stressed that “China always views and develops the China-Tanzania relations from a strategic and long-term perspective and firmly supports Tanzania in taking the development path in line with its national conditions,” Xinhua said.
The port project was planned to be a three-way collaboration between China Merchants Holdings, Oman’s State General Reserve Fund and the Tanzanian government. The mega project was supposed to handle 20 million tons of cargo, over 20 times of the existing Dar port.
Tanzania is East Africa’s second-biggest economy after Kenya, and cargo volumes at the existing Dar es Salaam port are expected to rise. The project would dwarf Kenya’s port at Mombasa, east Africa’s trade gateway about 300 km (180 miles) to the north, and aimed to capitalize on growth in a region seeking to exploit new oil and gas finds.
Bagamoyo port was meant to ease congestion in Dar es Salaam and transform a depressed area into a trade and manufacturing hub.
An African Development Bank (AfDB) report done earlier shows that Burundi has about 285 million metric tons of nickel reserves after it was discovered in 1974.
The extraction was however hindered by lack of infrastructure following the civil war in the mid-1990s that halted development and limited economic growth. Burundi’s nickel-ore reserves stretch from the south to the northeast of the country.
Nickel is used in many specific and recognizable industrial and consumer products, including stainless steel, alnico magnets, coinage, rechargeable batteries, electric guitar strings, microphone capsules, and special alloys. It is also used for plating and as a green tint in glass.
