Bagamoyo Port Project

Construction of Bagamoyo Port Project back on

Recently Plasduce Mbossa, director general of the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), announced that the Bagamoyo port construction, will not have to wait any longer for investors to kick off.

While speaking to the board of directors of the East African Business Council (EABC) at the TPA's headquarters, Mr. Mbossa said investors would join them on the way. He reaffirmed that a number of multinational companies have expressed interest in developing and running the $10 billion Bagamoyo port project.

The Bagamoyo Port project is being implemented in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. It is expected to be one of the largest government infrastructure projects in the country. The Bagamoyo port and its affiliate industrial zone are meant to address congestion at the old port and support Tanzania to become East Africa’s leading shipping and logistics center.

Expected to be the largest port in East Africa, the US $10bn port is set to handle 20 million TEU by 2045; that is 25 times the amount of cargo Dar es Salaam Port handles. The tri-government venture was initially between Tanzania, China, and Oman also involves the construction of a Special economic zone adjacent to the port.

190 industries including a manure processing industry were to be put up by the government of Oman around the port. When fully developed, the Bagamoyo Special Economic Zone was expected to attract about 700 industries.

Project background

In 2012, the Tanzanian government submitted its letter of approval for the Bagamoyo Special Economic Zone venture to China Merchants Port, agreeing to and accepting the investor's comprehensive project proposal.

By 2014 the project had still not started. It was however projected at the time the mega Bagamoyo port will take about 30 years to construct to reach its full potential at a cost of US$11bn, making it one of the largest in Africa.

The first phase of the new Bagamoyo project was to take three year. It would be able to handle 20 million containers annually. The port would be able to handle twenty times more cargo than the port in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam, the country's largest port. However not much has transpired to date

Construction works on US $10bn Bagamoyo Port project in Tanzania had stalled after China and Tanzania disagreed on terms of infrastructure investment. It is hoped that this mega project will see the light of day this time round after almost a decade.

First forward to 2021, the Bagamoyo Port project was revived. President Samia Suluhu Hassana made the announcement and said the government has begun talks with Chinese investors over the project.

“We have started talks with investors to revive the Bagamoyo Port project with the aim of opening it for the benefit of our nation,” said President Suluhu.