Tanzania revives $10 billion port project with China along Indian Ocean

TANZANIA - The government of Tanzania has revived a $10 billion port deal with China, which is set to be built along the Indian Ocean coastline, and that could be the largest in the East and Horn of Africa regions, and perhaps, China's biggest investment in Africa.

In 2013, China's President Xi Jinping made a maiden trip to Africa, which started in Tanzania, where he showed a lot of interest, including the construction of the port that would open up Tanzania to other countries in East and Southern Africa.

With growing interests from Beijing, Jinping was guided by the fact that the port of Dar es Salaam was already congested, thus the plan to build a $10 billion port in Bagamoyo, about 75 kilometers to the north of the capital, Dar es Salaam.

Jakaya Kikwete, the then president of Tanzania, oversaw the signing of the major deal, which was held between Merchants Holdings International, China's largest port operator, and the government of Tanzania to develop a road map for the port project.

But despite the grand signing, the project stalled abruptly, following rebellion from authorities in Tanzania, who questioned China's conditions for the establishment of the port, which they termed as "draconian and illogical".

But on Saturday, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said the country will look to revive the port project. Samia took over from John Magufuli, who died in March from heart-related ailments.

"Regarding the Bagamoyo Port project, let me give you the good news that we have started talks to revive the whole project," she said at a gathering of the Tanzania National Business Council. "We are going to start talks with the investors that came for the project with the aim of opening it for the benefit of our nation," she said, according to local newspaper The Citizen.

In China, state media Xinhua News Agency also quoted authorities in the Asian nation, citing plans to start the construction of Bagamoyo Port, which would be one of the largest in the continent.

Hassan's comments come five days after speaking with Xi by phone. "China is ready to work with Tanzania to consolidate political mutual trust, strengthen mutual support," Xi told Hassan according to Xinhua.

Reminding Hassan that Tanzania was the first African country he visited as president, Xi stressed that "China always views and develops the China-Tanzania relations from a strategic and long-term perspective and firmly supports Tanzania in taking the development path in line with its national conditions," Xinhua said.

Xi said China stands ready to synergize the joint construction of the Belt and Road with Tanzania's development strategies.

The repeated pledge to be considerate of Tanzania's national conditions is likely a reflection of the tensions that the Bagamoyo project has caused to date. China reportedly requested to Tanzania that once Bagamoyo Port was established, no other port would be built from Tanga in the north to Mtwara in the south.

The decision by Dar es Salaam and Beijing to work together comes at the time China is wrestling with the G-7 nations for the control of trade and security across the world. China has mostly targeted Africa.

In a statement issued after G-7 countries met in London, China warned that the time for a "small" group of countries making certain economic decisions was over. A number of G-7 countries led by the US had questioned China's economic policies.

"We always believe that countries, big or small, strong or weak, poor or rich, are equals, and that world affairs should be handled through consultation by all countries," read the statement by a Chinese envoy in London.

"The days when global decisions were dictated by a small group of countries are long gone," it said. China is coming out strongly in terms of control of the global economy and has mostly targeted so-called "third world countries".

John Magufuli, Kikwete's successor, shelved the Bagamoyo project, complaining of "exploitative and awkward" terms attached to the deal. Among the conditions, Magufuli disliked were requests from China that no other port be built in Tanzania, from Tanga in the north to Mtwara in the south.

The Citizen also quoted Magufuli as saying Tanzania was told "we should not question whoever comes to invest there once the port is operational."

The port project was planned to be a three-way collaboration between China Merchants Holdings, Oman's State General Reserve Fund, and the Tanzanian government.

China Merchants said in 2019 that years of negotiations with Tanzania had failed to produce an agreement. Along the Indian Ocean coast, the Port of Djibouti where China has massively invested is considered one of the best.

But the United Arab Emirates is now constructing the Port of Berbera in Somaliland, which will be key to landlocked Ethiopia and other countries in Central Africa. Bagamoyo Port will be instrumental to Rwanda, Burundi among other countries in the Southern belt.

GAROWE ONLINE