Arusha, Kigoma and Rumonge ports in Tanzania and Burundi respectively may get funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for their upgrading plans, according to the East African Community (EAC) secretariat.

The Bujumbura Port, the main waterway in Burundi, is also lined up for expansion to cope with increasing cargo traffic, the EAC secretary general, Dr Richard Sezibera, was told during a visit to the facility last week.

According to EAC officials, a team of experts from the secretariat in Arusha will be dispatched later this month to assess the condition of the ports as well as the roads connecting them to other key regions.

Dr Sezibera on Thursday paid an official visit to Rumonge Port on Lake Tanganyika, 70km to the south of Bujumbura City, where he held discussions with government officials on its operations and how it was contributing to the efficiency of transport among the EAC member states.

The port is located in one of the transport corridors identified by the EAC for upgrading and which falls under the East African Transport Strategy and Regional Roads Development Programme Study.

The roads linking them include Rutunga-Rumonge–Mabanda–Mugina/Manyovu, which extend to 138km in Burundi and 300km to Nyaka–Kasulu–Kidawe stretch in Tanzania.

“The roads comprise two key alternative corridors linking Burundi and Tanzania to the ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam,” said a statement issued by the department of Corporate Information and Public Affairs of the EAC. The roads in the network dubbed EA Corridor 5 also extend to Nyakanazi–Rusumo (106km) in Tanzania and to Rusumo–Kayonza (87km) in Rwanda. The latter stretch is in EA Corridor 2.

AfDB Project Identification Mission, which visited the region from June 30–July 18 this year qualified some regional projects for possible funding under ADF and proposed some projects to be channelled through Nepad–Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility (Nepad-IPPF).

The EAC is currently profiling the above road projects for possible support from AfDB through Nepad–IPPF in the same arrangements as the Arusha–Namanga–Athi River Road Development Project.

It is expected that the upgrading and rehabilitation of some sections of these roads together will improve access and operations of the ports of Bujumbura, Rumonge, Kigoma and others that will be identified as a strategy to improve EAC inland waterways navigability.

 

 

 

Source: thecitizen.co.tz