Monday, October 9, 2017

Tanzania Replaces Chinese Company with Turkish Company for Railway Project

Kenya's Standard Digital published on 8 October 2017 an article titled "Tanzania Building Electric Rail at Half Price of Kenya's Diesel Standard Gauge Railway Line" by Paul Wafula.

The article compares the process Kenya and Tanzania used to build a new standard gauge rail system in each country. Kenya opted for a no-bid contract with China Road and Bridge Corporation supported by Chinese financing. Tanzania quietly terminated a contract awarded to a Chinese construction company due to allegations of corruption and broke the project into four parts with four open bidding tenders and different funding sources. A Turkish and Portuguese consortium won the first phase and a Turkish company won the second phase. The article argues that the trains in Tanzania will travel much faster than those in Kenya and the project will cost less per kilometer.