Uganda eyes Tanzania rail link to open new mineral export corridor via Dar es Salaam
Uganda plans to connect a new standard gauge railway to Tanzania’s line now under construction, potentially opening a second ocean outlet for its exports through the port of Dar es Salaam and offering a fresh route for gold, copper and iron ore, according to a government document seen by Reuters.
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The move adds a southern corridor to Uganda’s long-standing plan to tie its Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to Kenya’s network that runs from the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa inland—an initiative still in progress. Until now, Kampala had not publicly said it would also seek to link with Tanzania’s system.
- The proposed route would run from the Tanzania border across southern and southwestern Uganda to Mpondwe on the frontier with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the document says.
- The stated aim is to connect mineral-rich regions in both countries to Dar es Salaam while saving time and transportation costs.
- The African Development Bank (AfDB) is considering a request to fund project preparation and may finance the build if studies deem it bankable.
- DRC could seek to connect later, potentially extending the corridor deeper into Central Africa.
“The main objective of the project is to connect the vast and mineral-rich regions of both countries (Uganda and Tanzania) to the port of Dar es Salaam … whilst saving time and transportation costs,” the Ugandan Ministry of Works and Transport document says.
The AfDB confirmed it is reviewing a request to support early-stage work on the line. “The bank may consider financing the project, depending on the outcomes of the studies, if the project is found to be bankable,” said Epifanio Carvalho de Melo, an AfDB official, in comments to Reuters. A spokesman for Uganda’s transport ministry could not immediately be reached.
Landlocked Uganda currently moves most commodity exports through Kenya’s Mombasa corridor. Kenya’s SGR—built by China Road and Bridge Corporation with Chinese financing—carries freight from the coast to the interior and is intended to link onward into Uganda, a plan Kampala has maintained. The prospective Tanzania connection would give shippers and miners a second maritime choice, positioning Uganda between two competing logistics arteries to the Indian Ocean.
Routing bulk minerals such as gold, copper and iron ore to Dar es Salaam could rebalance trade flows in East Africa and reduce bottlenecks on the northern corridor via Mombasa, depending on tariffs, reliability and transit times. It may also strengthen Uganda’s leverage in negotiating rates and schedules across both systems.
Beyond Uganda, a future spur from Mpondwe could draw in traffic from eastern DRC, which is rich in minerals but hampered by limited infrastructure, the document notes. That possibility underscores the project’s regional dimension: a transboundary freight spine tying Central African resources to the Indian Ocean via Tanzania.
No construction timetable or cost estimate was disclosed in the document seen by Reuters. The AfDB’s decision to finance would hinge on feasibility, environmental and social assessments, and the project’s commercial case. Uganda’s push to diversify export routes comes as East African states race to build or upgrade railways to cut road congestion and lower logistics costs across one of the world’s fastest-growing regions.
For now, Kampala’s plan signals a dual-corridor strategy—anchoring its trade to both Mombasa and Dar es Salaam—and a bid to lock in more predictable, cheaper pathways to global markets for its mineral and agricultural exports.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
