Tanzanian, Zambian leaders agree to revive TAZARA railway

Tanzania and Zambia have agreed to mobilize resources to revive the TAZARA railway to make it modern and vibrant.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said the agreement to revive TAZARA was reached when she held talks with visiting President Hakainde Hichilema at State House in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

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 kilometers from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to New Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia.

President Hassan added that the two leaders have also agreed to work closely in promoting trade and investment through the revival and renovation of key joint post-independence infrastructure projects that were built to link the two nations, including the Tanzania-Zambia Crude Oil Pipeline (TAZAMA).

“Tanzania and Zambia are long-time friends. We have agreed to further promote these relations which now should be translated into economic and trade relations to improve the lives of our people,” said President Hassan.

For his part, President Hichilema said the relations between Tanzania and Zambia were a heritage inherited from founding fathers Julius Nyerere and Kenneth Kaunda who understood the importance of connecting the two nations.

“We need to work together because our relationship and co-existence is historical, we were together in the struggle for independence, since then we have worked together and our people have been one,” he said.