Dar es Salaam, 20 January, 2018: Tanzania and Rwanda have taken further step leading to the construction of the Isaka – Kigali Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) phase which is 521km long.

At the invitation of Hon. Prof. Makame M. MBARAWA, (MP), Minister for Works, Transport and Communications of the United Republic of Tanzania, Hon. James MUSONI, Minister of Infrastructure of the Republic of Rwanda met in Dar es Salaam to discuss the implementation of the Standard Gauge Railway project pursuant to the directives given by the Heads of both Countries on 14^th January, 2018.

The meeting was held at the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communications in Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania and also attended by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and East Africa Cooperation and Minister for Finance and Planning of Tanzania, the Rwanda High Commissioner to Tanzania, Permanent Secretaries responsible for Transport from Tanzania and Rwanda, Permanent Secretary of Finance and Planning of Tanzania, and the Senior Government Officials from both countries.

The Ministers reiterated their strong commitment to further strengthen the relationship for the mutual benefits of the two Countries and their people and the prevailing commitment to realize the implementation of Isaka-Kigali railway project and its significance to reduce transportation cost, foster physical integration of transport modes, economic growth and improved social services in the sub region.

The Ministers deliberated on key implementation issues of the Project and agreed to adopt both the railway feasibility studies which were previously conducted in the two countries as well as the proposed Project Delivery Method of Design and Build similar to that of Dar es Salaam – Morogoro and Morogoro – Makutupora SGR project for the purpose of uniformity of standards.

In the joint communiqué, that was signed by James Musoni, Minister of Infrastructure of Rwanda and Prof. Makame M. Mbarawa, Tanzania’s Minister for Works, Transport and Communications, it was agreed to jointly mobilize funds for construction and each country will meet the cost of infrastructure in its own territory.

Both parties agreed on the proposal to adopt the setup of the existing Joint Technical Monitoring Committee (JTMC) for Dar es Salaam – Isaka-Kigali/Keza-Musongati (DIKKM) project reduced to Tanzania and Rwanda.

In the same joint communiqué, it was finally agreed that the Isaka-Kigali phase will be launched by October 2018.