The launch of the Central Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency (CCTTFA), will further open the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Indian Ocean and ease that country’s Imports and Exports transportation.

The corridor will bring Burundi, DR Congo, Rwanda Uganda and Tanzania together in ensuring that consignments to these countries, that are landlocked are transported by rail and road without interruptions or delays, a move that may affect Zambia greatly.

Tanzanian Minister of Transport Samuel Sitta, disclosed the formation of the corridor in Dar es Salaam recently.

“The Central Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency (CCTTFA) recently held the first Central Corridor Development Acceleration Process High Level Investors Forum, which among other things, discussed the launch of block trains designated to transport exclusively, consignments directly to Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, without any interruptions or delays,” Sitta told journalists in Dar es Salaam.

The minister further said that Tanzania, has an international duty to facilitate land locked neighbouring countries to access the ocean in transporting their imports and exports using Tanzanian harbours.

“This meeting prepared the ground work for the Presidents to reach an agreement amicably on various infrastructure projects once they convene later this month in Dar es Slaam,” Mr Sitta said.

He also said that during the Presidential Summit to be held between the 25 and 26 March, the presidents of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and DRCongo will flag off the block trains from the central railway line from Dar es Salaam to the three neighbouring countries at their border points.

In addition, he said that the presidents will also visit the Dar es Salaam Port during the Summit. According to a statement issued by CCTTFA, a regional task force from all Central Corridor member States will be set up to coordinate preparation of the projects, selected 22 transnational priority infrastructure projects to be developed and implemented in phase one.

These include ports development, railways and toll roads selected from all five member States. It further stated that the conference will bring together participants from the private sector World Economic Forum’s Business Working Group(BWG), International Financial Institutions, partner States of the Central Corridor, Bilateral and Multi-lateral Development Institutions, East African Community and other Private Sector players.

He also said that the Heads of States of all the CCTTFA Member States; Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya are expected to attend the said Summit.

According to the minister, yesterday’s meeting is part of preparations of the programme that seeks to accelerate infrastructure investments through private sector participation.

“The conference will allow the participants to examine well prepared and packaged infrastructure projects in which they can invest,” he said.

The Central Corridor was selected as the pilot project out of 51 projects under programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa-Priority Action Plan (PIDA-PAP). The Central Corridor Acceleration Process was launched in Devos, Geneva in January 2014 during World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the CCTTFA, the Minister for Transport and Ways of Communication in DRC, Mr Justin Kalumba Mwana Ngongo, has hailed efforts taken by Tanzania to improve the transport capacity in the region. “This is a great achievement that will witness a major facilitation of transport of goods through the central corridor,” he remarked.

DR Congo, Namibia and Zambia are members of the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lunbumbashi Development Corridor that also seeks to accelerate infrastructure investments through private sector participation.

The lack of a trade agreement between Zambia And the DR Congo, and the numerous trade bottlenecks between the countries, are forcing most DR Congo business men to take their business from Zambia to Tanzania.