DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The government of Tanzania has set aside 12 billion Tanzanian shillings (about 5.1 million U.S. dollars) for improvement of the performance of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) railway, a senior official said on Friday.
Atupele Mwakibete, the Deputy Minister for Works and Transport, said the financial support to TAZARA will be released during the 2022/2023 financial year that started on July 1, 2022, and runs to June 30, 2023.
Mwakibete said the financial support will be used in increasing TAZARA's passengers and cargo movement between the two countries' destinations, covering 1,860 kilometers.
He revealed the release of the financial support to TAZARA when he visited the railway line's workshop in the southern highland region of Mbeya.
"TAZARA is a lifeline for landlocked countries of Zambia, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo that import and export goods through the Dar es Salaam port (in Tanzania)," said Mwakibete.
On August 2, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and her Zambian counterpart Hakainde Hichilema agreed to mobilize resources to revive the TAZARA railway to make it modern and vibrant. ■