Can Africa's mega transport projects be a game changer?

Tanzania's latest transportation project, the Standard Gauge Railway, has been described by some analysts as a game changer in Africa. It stretches across breathtaking landscapes between Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.

The electrified train line cuts the travel time between the port of Dar es Salaam and Morogoro to about two hours. The journey used to be five hours on the old meter gauage railway, and four hours by road. 

"It's the longest line from the eastern part of the country, Dar es Salaam. It connects right up to the base of the Lake Victoria so it connects the largest city, the economic hub of the country to the second biggest city of the country," William Kallaghe, an economist, told DW.

The new railway is the biggest infrastructure project ever undertaken in Tanzania. It was built by the firm Yapi Merkezi of Turkey at a cost of $3.1 billion (€2.9 billion).

According to Kallaghe, the project initially drew broad skepticism in Tanzania. "When the decision was made, there were a lot of skeptics within government and also outside of government that first of all it was too expensive," he said. 

Masanja Kadogosa, the director general of Tanzania Railways Corporation, recently told journalists: "If we don't use it, billionaires would emerge from other countries and would use this railway. We have to benefit first."

A mega project with economic potential

Tanzanian officials have said the new railway will create employment opportunities, enhance port efficiency and boost both national and international trade.

"For Africa, we are the only country building the longest railway at an affordable cost. This gives us an economic advantage," said Deputy Transport Minister David Kihenzile.

The biggest challenge, however, is to ensure the mega project is brought to completion and managed effectively enough to support the economic activities in Tanzania and beyond.

"One of the things Tanzania needs to do is to develop its technical expertise to maintain the railway project that it is constructing," Jackson Sekasi, an engineer, told DW. Engineers need training to manage the project better, he added.

According to economist Kallaghe, private sector participation in running the new railway could be crucial to its success.

"The government, though the Tanzania Railways Corporation, has made an announcement that it is keen at the end of the day to invite private operators to run the rail. That is a very big, bold step that they have taken," he said.

Making Africa's mega transport projects work

Many African countries have undertaken mega infrastructure projects in the past, all built by foreign entities. But often they haven't been profitable, undermining their impact.

The TAZARA railway, constructed from 1968 to 1976 to link Tanzania and Zambia and built with financial and technical assistance from China, is one such example.

African countries need to go beyond the headline-grabbing narrative of a mega project by managing the new infrastructure for profitability, said Kallaghe.

"To have linkages with East African countries, you have to have proper experienced private firms to run these railways," he said.

Sekasi told DW that African countries must take steps to avoid having mega transportation projects turn out to be white elephants. "Another thing could be to have resources available to maintain the project, the infrastructure," he said.

Since Tanzania's Standard Gauge Railway was built with loans, it must not be made to fail, Sekasi warned. And management challenges around performance control and accountability in these projects receive far less attention in Africa than in other regions.

Mega projects are at risk of becoming an avenue for corruption in Africa, Sekasi told DW.

"You would always find that these projects are initiated backdoor by politicians and then the transparency of these project is not out there in the public. We need to check this corruption, if we really want to improve the performance of these mega projects."

Edited by: Benita van Eyssen