Tanzania’s mega Bagamoyo project back on the agenda

The view is that the new port of Bagamoyo will be required with the prospect in sight of the country’s main port of Dar es Salaam eventually running out of available capacity.

The intention is to seek out an investor for the project but with the TPA also financing part of the project.

China Merchant Holdings International has previously expressed interest in the project, which overall is expected to cost in the order of US$10 billion but this interest closed in 2018 with Tanzania reporting that it had been unable to agree terms, including regarding arrangements relating to setting charges for the use of the port. Today, however, according to Plasduce Mbossa, Director General, TPA, there are a number of interested parties that TPA will engage with as it ramps up efforts to get construction work underway in the next financial year.

The Bagamoyo port project, located 75 kilometres from Dar es Salaam, is an ambitious scheme with an ultimate vision of providing capacity sufficient to handle 20 million TEU by 2045 – 25 times the amount of cargo that Dar es Salaam port handles today. It will sit in the Bagamoyo Special Economic Zone which is additionally intended to attract a large scale cluster of diverse industries.