Tanzania has announced a bid to construct a railway network at the cost of US$ 15bn. this is according to Tanzania transport Minister Samuel Sitta. The Minister said that this will constitute the largest single project to be undertaken by the country since independence.

The railway project will see Dar connected to Rwanda and Burundi through a 2,561 km standard gauge railway line. This will be constructed at US$ 8bn.

As part of the larger plan, other two railway lines will be constructed to hook Dar es Salaam to the coal, iron ore and soda ash mining regions in the South and North, which will spend US$ 7bn.

The railway network will see Tanzania compete with Kenya, which is rehabilitating the Mombasa port and undertaking a lot of other infrastructure projects to open itself to more business. Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda are also planning on a connection via a railway network.