Turkey's Yapi Merkezi wins $1.92bn Tanzania railway contract

Turkish construction company Yapi Merkezi Insaat VE Sanayi has secured a $1.92bn contract to build a 422km high-speed electric railway line in Tanzania.

The contract was awarded by Tanzanian state-run railway firm Reli Assets Holding Company (RAHCO).

Yapi Merkezi is said to have fulfilled all the technical and financial requirements for the project, which received bids from a total of 15 contractors.

The deal will see Yapi Merkezi Insaat VE Sanayi be responsible for designing and constructing the railway line.

It also includes the replacement of the existing century-old narrow-gauge line between Morogoro and Makutupora with a new standard-gauge railway.

"Yapi Merkezi is said to have fulfilled all the technical and financial requirements for the project, which received bids from a total of 15 contractors."

The line will be able to transport 17 million tonnes of cargo per year following the overhaul.

The company is expected to complete the project in 36 months, reported dailysabah.com.

Yapi Merkezi previously won a $1.2bn contract to build a 300km-long rail line between Dar es Salaam and Morogoro in February, as part of a collaboration with Portugal-based Mota-Engil Engenharia e Construção África.

RAHCO is expected to award three additional tenders for the construction of nearly 700km of lines across the country in the near future under its plan to modernise Tanzania's aging railway infrastructure.

The Tanzanian Government intends to invest around $14.2bn over the next five years to construct a 2,561km standard-gauge railway network, which will connect its Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam to the other regions within the country.