China is to take over the management and operations of Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara), in a major plan that will herald privitisation of the struggling corporation, The Citizen can reveal. A technical team from Tanzania, Zambia and China is putting together details of the plan whose proposals include reducing the bloated Tazara workforce.
Tanzania and Zambia would also be required to review their domestic laws to provide for preferential provisions in the running of Tazara, with a view to attracting more private players. The proposed privitisation plan as a turnaround strategy for the landmark 1,860km single-track railway line that was built in the early 1970s by China as a cold-war era gift to Tanzania and Zambia.
According to the details made available, a consensus has been reached among the three parties to handover Tazara to China Railway as early as September this year when a technical agreement should be ready for signing. China Railway is a company which operates the Asian country’s vast national railway network for commuter and freight transport. The company was formed in 2013 and oversees the services via several smaller companies in a model it hopes to replicate here with Tazara if it indeed takes over.
