Tanzania Gauge railway project secures StanChart $1.46bn financing
Tanzania has signed a facility agreement with Standard Chartered for a $1.46 billion term loan to fund construction of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project from Dar es Salaam to Makutupora.
Standard Chartered Tanzania is global coordinator, bookrunner and mandated lead arranger on the facility, which will be the largest foreign currency financing raised by the country's Ministry of Finance to date. The biggest component of financing will come from Danish export credit agency EKF and Sweden's EKN. The Development Bank of Southern Africa, the Trade and Development Bank, and the African Export-Import Bank are also supporting the project. The SGR project was – prior to January 2017 – to be financed by $7.6 billion loan from China’s Exim Bank but funds were never dispersed.
The SGR project, which is approximately 550km long, is one of the country’s biggest projects connecting Dodoma to Dar es Salaam via Morogoro and Makutupora. It will also connect Tanzania to Burundi, Rwanda and The Democratic Republic of Congo.
Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr Philip Mpango, said the funding would allow the project to be completed in time. The Tanzania Railways Corporation said the railway will address current congestion and decrease freight service charges by 40%.
