Tanzania has secured $1.2 billion in commercial financing to build an electrified railway between Tabora and Kigoma. The African Development Bank brought together nine banks to finance the project.

The facility, co-arranged with Deutsche Bank and Société Générale, is backed by an $800 million partial credit guarantee from the African Development Bank. It is the largest guarantee of its kind the bank has issued to date and covers part of the lenders’ credit risk.

The 411-kilometre line will extend Tanzania’s standard-gauge network westward. Kigoma, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, is a gateway for trade with neighbouring markets. For shippers, the line’s value will depend on how reliably and affordably they can move goods along the entire corridor to the port of Dar es Salaam.