By Adedapo Adesanya
Tanzania has secured $272 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to build an international airport in its capital city, Dodoma, in order to expand its infrastructure.
The funding consists of $198 million from the AfDB, $23.52 million from the African Development Fund, while the remaining $50 million is being co-financed by China’s Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF), which is under the management of the AfDB.
According to the AfDB’s Director for Infrastructure and Urban Development, Mr Amadou Oumaru, the airport, coupled with other infrastructure, will help the country unlock many of its potentials to aid national development.
“An expanded air transport network in Dodoma, together with the ongoing high-speed railway construction on the central corridor, are necessary infrastructure investments to help unlock and disperse spatial development in the countryside.
This will strengthen the city’s potential as a strategic growth pole in keeping with Tanzania’ national development aspirations of fostering shared growth for all the regions,” he said.
Expected to be completed by 2024, the modern airport will be built in Msalato, 12 km from the capital city of Dodoma and will include a passenger terminal, runway and related infrastructure.
It was revealed that when completed, it will have a capacity to handle 1 million passengers annually and will have a runway of just over 2km in length.
There are already about 29 airports in Tanzania with the Julius Nyerere International Airport is the international airport of Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania and with the addition of a new airport, this may be a plus to the country which has sustained a relatively high economic growth.
However, the loan will add to the many already owed by African countries such as Tanzania with the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)warning that the activities of development banks are adding to heavy debt profiles on the continent which is over $500 million.
There have also been warnings that developing countries should exercise caution with lending from China, saying that funded projects can turn into debt traps that primarily benefit China in the long run.
