Tanzania secures $1.2bn from AfDB for Standard Gauge Railway project

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has signed a coordination agreement with Deutsche Bank and Société Générale to raise up to $1.2bn for the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project in Tanzania.

This agreement was signed at the 2024 African Investment Forum in Rabat, Morocco.

AfDB serves as the initial mandated lead global coordinator for the project’s financing.

The financing plan includes two tranches. AfDB will manage the second tranche, working with development finance institutions, Export Credit Agencies, bilateral lenders, and multilateral development banks.

Tanzania’s Ministry of Finance is actively pursuing international debt capital markets to fund the construction of the 411km railway line from Tabora to Kigoma.

Valued at $2.3bn, the SGR project aims to link the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam to Lake Victoria’s port of Mwanza, with extensions to Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda.