DAR ES SALAAM, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian authorities on Tuesday appealed to the African Development Bank (AfDB) for a soft loan to enable the east African nation to construct a 224-km four-lane highway from the capital city Dodoma to Morogoro Municipality.
Philip Mpango, Minister for Finance and Planning, made the appeal during talks with the AfDB Executive Director for the East African region, Amos Cheptoo, in the capital Dodoma.
A statement issued by the Ministry of Finance and Planning said Mpango told Cheptoo that the upgrading of the highway will ease passenger and cargo transport along the busiest road with heavy traffic.
"The Dodoma-Morogoro highway was constructed 80 years ago and is the main gateway to western regions of Kigoma and Mwanza, and to neighboring landlocked countries of Burundi and Rwanda," said Mpango.
The minister said since Dodoma was now the country's new capital, it deserved to have a reliable road network with minimal accidents, said the statement.
For his part, Cheptoo, who was on a two-day official visit to Tanzania, said the bank will make sure that Tanzania secured loans for implementation of flagship projects, including the Dodoma-Morogoro highway.
He commended President John Magufuli for pioneering flagship projects aimed at transforming the country's economy, and appealed to other African countries to emulate what Tanzania was doing.
Last month, the AfDB approved a 455 million U.S. dollars loan to Tanzania for the construction of a new airport and ring roads in the new capital Dodoma.
