Activities in Tanzania

"……..despite this financial fact, the whole project has been regarded as a Tanzanian one. All the time the endevour has been to meet our needs and our objectives……." Mwalimu Julius Nyerere

[Background and the current situation]

Tanzania, as a gateway to the Indian ocean, is located to important place not only for Tanzania but also for neighboring countries. Most of the land transportation is dependent on road transportation. With the progress in trade liberalization through regional integration by the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), it has become an urgent task to strengthen competitiveness through the consolidation of infrastructure in the region. Although the pavement rate of trunk roads has improved to nearly 70%, there are only a few sections of local roads that are sufficiently maintained and managed, which is a serious constraint to social and economic development. The status of these underdeveloped roads have been one of the major obstacles for socio-economic development and promotion of investment of the country.

In addition, railway transportation is expected to play more important role particularly in a long-haul and heavy transport - however, it has not been able to fulfil its anticipated roles due to insufficient investment for proper management and maintenance of rail tracks and rolling stock, as well as operational challenges. The government of Tanzania promotes the construction of a standard gauge railway to enhance an intercity railway transportation capacity.

Regarding ports, the Port of Dar es Salaam plays vital part as a gateway to the Ocean for Tanzania and its neighboring land-locked countries. The port has, however, problems with its operational efficiency, limitation of the land space for further expansions and there is an urgent need to respond to the future increasing cargo demand.

The City of Dar es Salaam is the center of economic activities, and with population of 4.36 million (2012 Census) which is equivalent to 1/10 of national population in Tanzania. Traffic congestion has gotten worse year by year while the population is expected to reach 10 million in 2030s. Under these circumstances, coupled with the lack of policies and plans concerning urban development and transport, insufficient public transportation services and urban development are becoming serious issues. To enhance logistics and increase efficiency of transportation, it is required to develop transport infrastructure, well-designed transportation policies and systems, and comprehensive management institutions, personnel and systems. Also, in recent years, functions and offices of the central government are being transferred from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma, and large scale of infrastructure development for Dodoma is expected to meet the increasing demand.

[JICA's policy on development challenges]

Based on "the Transport Sector Investment Program II (TSIP II)" by the Government of Tanzania and the results of Japan's Technical Cooperation Project "the Comprehensive Transport and Trade System Master Plan Study", JICA will continue to support, improvement of efficiency of national wide freight transport, assistance in the reduction of congestion in urban areas and improvement of access in rural areas. Specifically, the support for development of trunk roads, other transportation modes such as ports, and assistance in One Stop Border Post (OSBP), which contributes to facilitation of intra-regional and international transport, will be continued. The support for reduction of the congestion in Dar es Salaam Metropolitan areas, which act as the gateway of the Indian ocean, will be provided in terms of both soft and hard aspects. Financial assistances for rural road development, which can benefit economic development of rural areas, will be considered, while the capacity development will be mainly focused.

Since there are a lot of financing needs in transport sector, JICA will closely coordinate with other development partners as well as aim to mobilize private investment including Japanese firms in order to address this financing gap.

Regarding Dar es Salaam City Urban Transportation, it is required to support modal shift from roads to railways, and urban transport development to deal with rapidly increasing population and number of vehicles. Possibilities of such supports by applying Japan's advanced ecologies will be considered through "the Project for Revision of Dar es Salaam Urban Transport Master Plan".

Through basic data collection of development needs, future supports for development of transport infrastructure in Dodoma will be considered.

[Program of Transportation Sector]

Based on Transport Sector Investment Program (TSIP) II and the result of the Comprehensive Transport and Trade System Master Plan Study, JICA continues to support development of national and international trunk road, efficient cross-border transport. In medium- and long-term perspective, the development of other transportation modes such as ports will be considered.

In Dar es Salaam, as the economic and trade center city, cooperation for development of soft and hard infrastructures will be conducted to tackle with increasing traffic congestion based on Dar es Salaam Urban Transport Master Plan.

Case Study

• Case study - Mfugale Flyover project
• Case study - Road Sector Support Project I & II

Mfugale flyover construction

Night scene of Mfugale Flyover

Dar es Salaam Transport Masterplan