by Peter Orengo
Tanzania’s capital city, Dodoma, will get a new airport that is expected to carter for over one million people.
A loan of US $272m has been forwarded to the government of Tanzania to upgrade the infrastructure.
The African Development Bank ( AfDB) has forwarded the US $272m loan to the government of Tanzania to construct an international airport in Dodoma.
The project is part of a programme to expand the East African nation’s infrastructure. The funding package comprises a US $198.6m loan from the AfDB, US $23.52m from the African Development Fund, and US $50m in co-financing from China’s Africa Growing Together Fund, which the AfDB manages.
“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,” said Amadou Oumarou, the AfDB’s infrastructure and urban development department director.
The modern airport will be built in Msalato, 12 km from Dodoma. It will include a passenger terminal, runway and related infrastructure.
The new airport project will take approximately four years to complete.
Upon completion it will have a capacity to handle 1 million passengers annually and will have a runway of just over 2km in length.