The file photo shows the Dar Es Salaam station of Tanzania-Zambia Railway in Dar Es Salaam, capital of Tanzania, on Feb. 14, 2019. (Xinhua/Lyu Shuai)
The Tanzanian government has released 10 billion Tanzanian shillings (about 4.3 million U.S. dollars) to support the ailing Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), according to a statement issued.
DAR ES SALAAM, April 12 (Xinhua) -- A Tanzanian cabinet minister said the government has released 10 billion Tanzanian shillings (about 4.3 million U.S. dollars) for supporting the ailing Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), according to a statement issued on Saturday.
"The funding is part of efforts to bring back to life TAZARA and enable it to stand on its feet," Isack Kamwelwe, the Minister for Works, Transport and Communications, was quoted in the statement.
The statement said Kamwelwe revealed the release of the 4.3 million dollars by the government to TAZARA when he inspected maintenance of TAZARA's two locomotive engines in the southern highlands region of Mbeya on Friday.
The funding is intended to enable TAZARA to be able to ferry millions of tonnes of cargo annually as it previously used to do, said Kamwelwe.
Ezekiel Mong'ateko, TAZARA workshop manager for Mbeya region, said two locomotive engines have already been repaired with the third one to be repaired by the end of this month.
He said one locomotive engine could carry 250,000 tonnes of cargo annually, adding that at the moment the railway line was ferrying less than 300,000 tonnes of cargo annually.
TAZARA was constructed as a turnkey project between 1970 and 1975 through an interest-free loan from China, with commercial operations starting in July 1976, covering 1,860 km from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to New Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia. ■
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