en.Wedoany.com Reported - Turkish contractor Yapi Merkezi Insaat VE Sanayi AS recently disclosed that Standard Chartered Bank has arranged a $2.2 billion loan for its construction of the Tanzania Standard Gauge Railway project, jointly provided with export credit agencies. Yapi Merkezi Deputy Chairman Erdem Arıoğlu stated in an interview with Bloomberg that the agreement will be signed on April 28 in Dodoma, the capital of the East African nation Tanzania, with the funds used for the construction of the third and fourth phases of the standard gauge railway.
The sections covered by this financing pass through Makutupora, Tabora, and Isaka. Prior to this, Tanzania and Standard Chartered Bank had held talks in Washington, D.C., regarding the loan, with the meeting taking place at the Tanzanian Embassy during the 2026 IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Juma Malik Akil, State Minister for Finance and Planning in Zanzibar, on behalf of Minister of Finance Khamis Mussa Omar.
This loan positions Standard Chartered Bank as the lead financier for Yapi Merkezi's Tanzania Standard Gauge Railway project. According to a 2024 report, the cost of the initial 541-kilometer standard gauge railway section between Dar es Salaam and Dodoma was $3.1 billion, with the government stating that a $1.46 billion loan from Standard Chartered Bank funded part of the segment. Tanzania Railways Corporation stated that the planned standard gauge railway network, totaling approximately 2,561 kilometers, connects the port of Dar es Salaam with inland commercial centers and neighboring countries.
The Turkish company plays a key role in the construction of multiple sections of the Tanzania Standard Gauge Railway, with a total length exceeding 1,000 kilometers. Sections 1 and 2 connect Dar es Salaam to Makutupora, while Sections 3 and 4 connect Makutupora to Tabora and Tabora to Isaka. The scope of work also includes three stations, maintenance workshops, a depot, a railway institute, electrification, signaling, and telecommunications systems.
Other East African countries, such as Kenya, are also advancing their own standard gauge railway projects and plan to achieve electrification to connect with Uganda. Tanzania's planned network will link Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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