Overview

Chinese Government provides RMB 50 million to TAZARA Operations and Maintenance in Special Train Loan

Commitments (Constant USD, 2023)$14,029,720

Commitment Year•2001Country of Activity•ZambiaDirect Recipient Country of Incorporation•ZambiaSector•Transport And StorageFlow Type•Loan

Status

Project lifecycle

Completion

Pipeline: PledgePipeline: CommitmentImplementationCompletion

Timeline

Key dates

Commitment date: Jan 1, 2001

Start (actual): Jul 19, 2001

First repayment: Dec 30, 2010

Last repayment: Dec 27, 2020

Geospatial footprint

Map overview

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This project supported the Tanzania–Zambia Railway (TAZARA), which is an 1860 km railway that stretches from Dar‑es‑Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi. The railway crosses Tanzania in a southwest direction, leaving the coastal strip and then entering largely uninhabited areas of the vast Selous Game Reserve. The line crosses the TAN-ZAM highway at Makambako and runs parallel to the highway toward Mbeya and the Zambian border, before entering Zambia, and linking with Zambia Railways at Kapiri Mposhi. From sea level, the railway climbs to 550 meters (1,800 feet) at Mlimba, and then reaches its highest point of 1,789.43 meters at Uyole in Mbeya before descending to 1,660 meters at Mwenzo, the highest point in Zambia, and settling to 1,274.63 meters at Kapiri Mposhi. More detailed locational information can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAZARA_Railway#/media/File:Railways_in_Tanzania.svg and https://sharemap.org/jkan/railway/Railways_in_Tanzania#!webgl and https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/14060545

Stakeholders

Organizations involved in projects and activities supported by financial and in-kind transfers from Chinese government and state-owned entities

Ultimate beneficial owners

At least 25% host country ownership

Funding agencies

Government Agencies

China Ministry of Commerce

Receiving agencies

Government Agencies

Government of Zambia

Implementing agencies

Intergovernmental Organizations

Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA)

Loan desecription

Chinese Government provides RMB 50 million to TAZARA Operations and Maintenance in Special Train Loan

Grace period•10 yearsGrant element•75.0516%Interest rate (t₀)•0%Interest type•Fixed Interest RateMaturity•20 years

Narrative

Full Description

Project narrative

On July 19, 2001, the Chinese Government provided an interest free RMB 50 million loan to the Government of Zambia to support the ongoing operations and maintenance of TAZARA, including through the provisions of spare parts and operations. This project was known as the Special Train Loan. In 1967, the Chinese Government provided an RMB 494 million interest-free loan to the Government of Zambia for the construction of the 1860 km Tanzania–Zambia Railway (TAZARA), stretching from Dar‑es‑Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi. Since then, the Chinese Government has provided a series of grants and loans to support TAZARA by providing spare parts, fuel, technical assistance, passenger coaches, and locomotives.

Staff comments

1. Since the borrowing terms of the interest-free loan are unavailable, AidData has set the maturity to 20 years by default and grace period to 10 years by default, per China's Foreign Assistance White Paper (http://www.cidca.gov.cn/2018-08/06/c_129925064_3.htm) which states that the maturity of interest-free loans is 20 years, with a drawdown period of 5 years, grace period of 5 years, and repayment over 10 years. AidData treats the drawdown period as providing 5 years of additional grace.