China kwenye mkutano na viongozi wa Africa yasaini mkataba wa kuboresha TAZARA

China kwenye mkutano na viongozi wa Africa yasaini mkataba wa kuboresha TAZARA

𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗺𝗽 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝘀-𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗔𝗭𝗔𝗥𝗔 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆

[emoji828]China plans to invest more than $1 billion in the concession agreement

[emoji828]A revitalised railway could play a crucial role in exporting copper and other strategic minerals from Zambia and DRC to China via the Dar es Salaam port

September 4, 2024

Beijing

China signed an agreement today to revamp the TAZARA railway that will help landlocked Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, export the metal through Tanzania.

The heads of state of the three nations oversaw the ceremony at the Forum on China Africa-Cooperation (FOCAC), kicking off the biggest upgrade of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority since Mao Zedong agreed to help build it in the 1970s.

The line links Zambia’s mines with Tanzania’s main port of Dar es Salaam on Africa’s east coast.

It could play a crucial role in exporting copper to China, the biggest consumer of the metal used in items ranging from air conditioners to electric vehicles.

Taking over the concession of a strategic export route for critical minerals from Zambia and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is in part a response from China to the US backing another rail project, the so-called Lobito Corridor, that heads the opposite direction, to Africa’s west coast.

It’s the latest maneuver in a tussle for influence, which is sparking a rail revival in the region.

The Chinese government has moved quickly since Zambia requested help in refurbishing the line.

State-owned China Civil Engineering Construction Corp sent its experts in December last year to inspect the railway.

Three months later, China’s ambassador to Zambia officially handed over the proposal to spend more than $1 billion to revitalise the line and operate it commercially. Negotiations followed, culminating in today’s deal.

TAZARA has played a symbolic role in China’s relations with Africa, having been the first major infrastructure project it built on the continent.

At the time, Mao’s government had little funding of its own, yet chose to help Zambia with the new 1,860 km railway.

The landlocked nation was stranded at the time, after then-Rhodesia’s government declared independence from Britain and shut its border, blocking Zambia’s main export route via South Africa.

President Kenneth Kaunda approached various funders for the rail project including the World Bank, yet only China would help.

That crucial assistance put China in a good position to now take over commercial operations on the line, which have fallen into disrepair.

“You can’t beat TAZARA” for minerals going to the Far East, Bruno Ching’andu, chief executive officer at the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority, said in an interview last month.

“These are the people that built the line, that constructed the line,” he said “They’ve sent several teams to look at the bridges, to look at all the infrastructures along the line. They seem certain as to what is required.”

UNTRIED MODEL

The deal also reflects a more cautious approach from China toward foreign infrastructure projects after some big loans made under its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative went bad.

Zambia borrowed more than $6 billion from its lenders, and defaulted in 2020. That triggered a painful debt restructuring process that’s not yet fully complete.

China Civil has proposed a public-private partnership approach to the TAZARA revitalisation, which focuses more on developing and running the concession on a commercial basis.

That’s an untried model in Zambia, according to Trevor Simumba, a development economist who wrote a paper on China’s lending to his country.

“This is a big test for China,” he said. “I have a feeling it’s going to succeed.”

-- Bloomberg
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Ni kwa ajiri ya copper yao, na sisi mahindi, mchele yeti na abiria hopefully tutafaidika, lakini Africans ovyo sana tulipewa hii reli mpya ikaishia kutufia mkononi, hope this time will be different
 
Mkuu ni diesel engines
Utakuwa ujuha wa kiwango cha rami!

Yaani tumetoka kusifiwa kwa kujenga reli ya Umeme TRC alafu huku tunakuja kukubali ujinga wa diesel engine???

Akili zetu zinapaswa kupimwa kwa kweli
 
Mikataba inayosainiwa na huyu haiaminiki kabisa.ni ya kipigaji tu na chini ya ubora
 

Rais wa Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania Mhe. Dkt. Samia Suluhu Hassan, Rais Jamhuri ya Watu wa China Mhe. Xi Jinping pamoja na Rais wa Zambia Mhe. Hakainde Hichilema wakishuhudia uwekaji saini wa hati ya makubaliano ya kuboresha reli ya TAZARA katika ukumbi wa The Great Hall of the People jijini Beijing, tarehe 4 Septemba, 2024.

#SamiaAPP
#KaziIendelee
Tutaendelea kuwa watumwa mpaka pale tutakapojitambua
 
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Mkutano wa kilele wa Baraza la Ushirikiano kati ya China na Afrika 2024 (FOCAC) ulimalizika hivi karibuni hapa mjini Beijing. Mkutano huo safari hii umekuja na habari njema ambayo imeleta faraja kubwa kwa nchi za Afrika mashariki, hasa baada ya kuonesha moyo wa dhati wa kuwaenzi waasisi wao yaani Mwenyekiti Mao Zedong na Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.

Hii inakuja baada ya hatua ya kihistoria kupigwa wakati Rais Xi Jinping wa China, Rais wa Tanzania Samia Suluhu Hassan, na Rais wa Zambia Hakainde Hichilema waliposhuhudia utiaji saini mkataba wa makubaliano (MoU) wa kufufua Reli ya Tanzania na Zambia (TAZARA).

Mkataba huu wa kihistoria uliotangazwa tarehe 4 Septemba, wakati wa Mkutano wa FOCAC, unasisitiza uhusiano wa kudumu kati ya China na Afrika na dhamira ya maendeleo ya pamoja. TAZARA, reli yenye urefu wa kilomita 1,860 inayounganisha Zambia isiyo na bandari hadi jiji la pwani la Tanzania la Dar es Salaam, imekuwa alama ya urafiki kati ya China na Afrika kwa miongo kadhaa.

Ikiwa imejengwa na wafanyakazi wa China wakisaidiwa na wenyeji wao Waafrika katika mwaka 1970 hadi 1975 kwa mkopo usio na riba kutoka China, reli hii ilitoa njia muhimu ya maisha kwa mauzo ya shaba ya Zambia kwa kusafirisha mizigo kutoka migodi ya shaba na kobalti ya Zambia hadi baharini kwenye pwani ya Tanzania. Pia ilileta changamoto kwa utawala wa kikoloni na kukuza uhuru wa kiuchumi. Shughuli za kibiashara za njia hiyo ya reli zilianza mwaka 1976, licha ya kupuuzwa na baadhi ya serikali za Magharibi wakati huo kama “reli ya mianzi”.

Mapema mwezi Februari mwaka huu, China ilipendekeza kutumia dola za Marekani bilioni 1 (kama Sh trilioni 2.72/-) kukarabati reli hiyo kupitia ubia kati ya sekta ya umma na sekta binafsi. Hivyo kwa sasa, ufufuaji wa TAZARA ni muhimu zaidi kuliko hapo awali. Rais Xi Jinping, kupitia vyombo vya habari vya serikali, amenukukuliwa akisisitiza kwamba China iko tayari kuchukua fursa ya mkutano huu kufanya maendeleo mapya katika ufufuaji wa reli ya Tanzania na Zambia.

"China inapenda kuuchukulia mkutano huu kama fursa ya kufanya maendeleo mapya katika ufufuaji wa reli ya Tanzania na Zambia, kushirikiana kuboresha mtandao wa usafiri kati ya reli na bahari katika Afrika Mashariki, na kuijenga Tanzania kuwa eneo la mfano wa ushirikiano wa kina wenye bora wa juu wa “Ukanda Mmoja Njia Moja” kati ya China na Afrika," Rais Xi alisema.

Wakati uchumi wa Afrika unakua kwa kasi na biashara ya kimataifa inapanuka, miundombinu bora ya uchukuzi ni muhimu sana. China na Afrika zinaifanya reli hiyo kuwa ya kisasa na inayokwenda na wakati zaidi, ili kuimarisha mawasiliano ya kikanda, kurahisisha biashara, na kukuza maendeleo ya kiuchumi.

Uchakavu wa miundombinu na matatizo mengine ya kimtaji ni miongoni mwa masuala yaliyopunguza ufanisi wa TAZARA kiasi cha kuathiri ratiba za safari za treni za abiria na mizigo. Kwa maana hiyo mradi huo hautanufaisha Tanzania na Zambia pekee bali pia mataifa mengine ya Afrika yasiyo na bahari yanayotaka kupata masoko ya kimataifa. TAZARA iliyofufuliwa inaweza kutumika kama kichocheo cha ukuaji wa uchumi, kutoa nafasi za ajira na kupunguza umaskini katika eneo la Afrika Mashariki.

Ufufuaji wa TAZARA unaendana na dhamira ya China ya maendeleo endelevu. Kwa kuwekeza katika miundombinu ya kisasa na rafiki kwa mazingira, mradi huu unaweza kusaidia kupunguza utoaji wa kaboni, kuboresha ufanisi wa nishati, na kukuza ukuaji wa kijani. Makubaliano hayo yanaashiria hatua kubwa ya maendeleo katika kuimarisha ushirikiano kati ya China na Afrika. Pia yanaonesha uungaji mkono usioyumba wa China kwa maendeleo ya Afrika na nia yake ya kuwekeza katika miradi ambayo ina umuhimu wa kihistoria na wa kimkakati.

TAZARA inapoingia katika enzi mpya, inatoa mwanga wa matumaini kwa mustakabali mzuri. Ufufuaji wa reli sio tu kwamba unahusu miundombinu, bali pia unahusu kuimarisha uhusiano, kukuza ustawi, na kujenga dunia iliyounganishwa zaidi na endelevu.
 
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