Turkish contractor Yapi Merkezi late last month signed a $1.9-billion turnkey contract for the construction of 368 kilometers of electrified standard gauge railway (SGR) in Tanzania comprising all infrastructure works and the materials and systems for the trackwork, catenary power supply, signaling and telecommunications.
This is the third construction contract for the firm, which holds two other contracts for the overall SGR project—the 300-km Phase One connecting East Africa’s second biggest port of Dar es Salaam to Morogoro and the 426-km. Phase Two linking Morogoro to Makutupora. Phase 3 of the railway line is the third of five in the construction of a 1,219-km line linking Tanzania to neighboring countries, including Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. “We are expecting to commence construction within the first quarter of 2022,” said Başar Arıoğlu, chairman of Yapı Merkezi Construction and Industry, the flagship of the Yapi Merkezi Group and Yapı Merkezi Holding.