By Prosper Makene
The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania is set to construct the 50km bridge which will be the first longest in the continent connecting the business capital of Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar Islands.
The longest bridge in Africa will improve transportation of people and goods from Dar es Salaam and the Isles.
“The talks on building the bridge have started on March 11, 2023, and are in advanced stages,” Works and Transport Deputy Minister Geofrey Kasekenya told the Parliament in Dodoma on Friday when he was answering a question that was asked by Mwantum Dau Haji (CCM Special Seats) who wanted to know when the construction of the bridge would kick off.
The Deputy Minister pointed out that the Chinese company has shown interest in constructing the bridge. “We have met with the prospective investors of M/S China Overseas Engineering Group Company (COVEC) and they have shown interest in building the bridge.”
He further said that the construction project will also engage a partnership with the private sector.
However, Zanzibar is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 km (16–31 mi) off the coast of the African mainland, and consists of many small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. The capital is Zanzibar City, located on the island of Unguja. Its historic centre, Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site.
Zanzibar’s main industries are spices, raffia and tourism.
In particular, the islands produce cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and black pepper. For this reason, the Zanzibar Archipelago, together with Tanzania’s Mafia Island, are sometimes referred to locally as the “Spice Islands”.
Tourism in Zanzibar is a more recent activity, driven by government promotion that caused an increase from 19,000 tourists in 1985, to 376,000 in 2016. The islands are accessible via 5 ports and the Abeid Amani Karume International Airport, which can serve up to 1.5 million passengers per year.
Zanzibar’s marine ecosystem is an important part of the economy for fishing and algaculture and contains important marine ecosystems that act as fish nurseries for Indian Ocean fish populations.
Moreover, the land ecosystem is the home of the endemic Zanzibar red colobus, the Zanzibar servaline genet, and the extinct or rare Zanzibar leopard.
Meanwhile, The autonomous status of Zanzibar is viewed as comparable to Hong Kong as suggested by some scholars, and with some recognizing the island as an “African Hong Kong”
