Tanzania secures $2.2bn for SGR expansion linking Dar es Salaam, says Turkish contractor Yapi Merkezi
Published on 04/29/2026 at 04:25 am EDT
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Tanzania has secured $2.2bn in external financing for new sections of its standard gauge railway (SGR), with Standard Chartered Plc (LSE: STAN) arranging the package, according to Turkish contractor Yapi Merkezi Insaat VE Sanayi AS.
Yapi Merkezi Vice Chairman Erdem ArΔ±oΔlu told Bloomberg the agreement was due to be signed on April 28 in Dodoma and would fund construction of the third and fourth phases of the line linking central and western Tanzania.
A Tanzanian government spokesperson confirmed the financing plan, while Standard Chartered declined to comment.
Yapi Merkezi said the package includes $1.4bn from export credit agencies in Sweden, Poland and Italy, and $800mn from development finance institutions.
Tanzania is upgrading its transport corridor to move more cargo through Dar es Salaam port, which handled a record 27.7mn tonnes in 2024/25, up 15% year-on-year, according to the Tanzania Ports Authority cited by Daily News.
The railway will link the port with Mwanza on Lake Victoria and extend to landlocked neighbours including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Malawi, as East African states compete for regional transit trade and lower freight costs.
Yapi Merkezi, a Turkish engineering and construction group, has already completed the first two phases of the 1,219-km line covering 722 km from Dar es Salaam to Makutupora via Dodoma.
The new funding is expected to ease pressure on the contractorβs cash flow after it previously restructured around $2bn of loans linked to earlier Tanzania rail works.
βWhen you work with governments, itβs always a challenge to get your money on time,β ArΔ±oΔlu told Bloomberg. βConstruction sites are like elephants: if you get it moving, it doesnβt stop easily, so you have to keep the cash flow.β
Separately, Yapi Merkezi expects a $300mn-$350mn arbitration award linked to a suspended railway project in Ethiopia halted after conflict erupted in Tigray.
As IntelliNews reported, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) recently committed to continue supporting Tanzania in financing major projects including the SGR, mining investments and a specialist hospital scheme, following IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings talks between Vice President Haytham ElMaayergi and Finance Minister Khamis Mussa Omar.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) had also pledged $2.5bn in February for infrastructure projects in Tanzania, with most of the funding directed to transport networks including roads, railways and airports.
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