By CGTN Africa
Finance ministers from Tanzania and Burundi have signed an agreement for the construction of a 900 million U.S. dollar railway aimed at boosting trade between the East African neighbors. The deal was inked in the western Tanzanian town of Kigoma on Sunday.
The 282-kilometer line will connect Burundi’s official capital Gitega with the western Tanzanian town of Uvinza. Tanzania’s finance ministry says the two countries will seek to jointly finance the railway, adding that total construction costs would not likely exceed $900 million.
Tanzania boasts of massive seaports and constitutes a crucial trade link for landlocked neighboring countries like Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which planners are working to connect to the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam via a standard-gauge railway line currently under construction.
