-* {NEXT to the busy port of Dar es Salaam, the business capital of Tanzania, work is starting on a Chinesefinanced, 150-acre logistics hub that will contribute to the already booming trade between China and Africa.}
The Tanzanian government has begun the compensation process for about 1,000 local residents who will need to be relocated, and construction will begin soon, Abdallah Kigoda, the Tanzanian minister for industry and trade, said at a news conference in Dar es Salaam last month, according to Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency.
Mr Kigoda said that the Chinese side would provide $412.5 million for the project, located in the Kurasini area of Dar es Salaam, whose port is one of two key maritime hubs in East Africa. The project was first discussed in 2009.
Lack of infrastructure and landlocked markets are “two of the most significant obstacles” to sustained economic growth across Africa, so the construction of the hub is “welcome news,” J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Centre of the Atlantic Council, a research institute, said in an email.
According to a study by the centre, he said, transport costs are 63 per cent higher in Africa than in other developing regions. China trails Britain as the largest source of investment to Tanzania, but has become the East African country’s leading trade partner, with around $3.7 billion in business last year.
During a visit by President Xi Jinping of China in March 2013, the two countries signed trade deals worth millions of dollars, in what has become a standard feature of Chinese diplomatic trips.
But the Chinese leader also sought to offset concerns that China was only interested in Africa’s natural resources and that the import of inexpensive Chinese manufactured goods could damage the long-term growth prospects of African economies.
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