By Xinhua
Dar es Salaam : India's RITES Limited and the government of Tanzania have signed a pact to speed up the concession of the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC).
The pact was signed on Friday by RITES Managing Director Vinay Agarwal and Ally Karavina, chairman of Tanzania's Parastatal Sector Reform Commission.
"This will be followed by the official handing over of the operations of TRC to the concession company expected to be effected in July 2007," the Parastatal Sector Reform Commission said in a statement available on Saturday.
Engineering consultant and project manager RITES, will hold 51 percent of the stake of the new Tanzania Railways, while the government of Tanzania will hold the remaining 49 percent.
The Indian consortium will be responsible for the operation of the railway system.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a key investor in the concession, has just completed its viability and marketability study in Tanzania.
RITES has requested $44 million from the US-based IFC to partially finance the initial capital investment needed for the first five years of the concession's 25-year lease.
The IFC investigation team visited TRC installations in Dar es Salaam, Morogoro and Mwanza.