mirror of nations: tanzania | reporter's notes: china's imprint on tanzania's development
2024-09-02
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
xinhua news agency, dar es salaam, september 2 (reporter hua hongli) with the gradual deepening of china-africa cooperation, a series of infrastructure projects undertaken by chinese companies have been delivered and put into use in tanzania, a land full of hope, and are profoundly changing the lives of local residents, bringing unprecedented changes to tanzania's development.
lakeside residents' "savior"
ngongyani is a father of three children who has lived in mwanza in northwestern tanzania for more than 20 years. he and his family are very excited about the magufuli bridge that will be completed in their hometown.
this is a drone photo of the magufuli bridge construction site taken in mwanza province, tanzania on april 11. xinhua news agency (photo courtesy of china civil engineering group co., ltd.)the magufuli bridge project spans lake victoria, the largest freshwater lake in africa, connecting the two regions of busisi and kigongo. it is 520 meters long and is a three-tower, double-cable-plane, low-tower cable-stayed bridge. the project is undertaken by china civil engineering group co., ltd. and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. after completion, it will become the longest low-tower cable-stayed bridge in africa.
zhang junle, executive director and general manager of ccecc east africa co., ltd., said that after completion, the bridge will not only solve the travel difficulties of more than one million people, but will also become an important hub connecting the mwanza region with tanzania's neighboring countries such as rwanda, burundi and uganda, helping to reduce local poverty and promote regional economic development.
"before, we mainly relied on ferries or roads to travel between the two sides of lake victoria, but a ferry ride usually took more than two hours. after the bridge is completed, the travel time will be greatly shortened." ngongyani said happily that the magufuli bridge project will significantly enhance the happiness of local residents.
according to him, due to the frequent suspension of ferry services, the crops harvested and the fish caught by the locals often suffered heavy losses because they could not reach the market in time. there have even been tragedies where pregnant women and other patients died because they could not get to the other side of lake victoria for medical treatment in time. "this bridge will be the savior of the people on both sides of the strait."
the first modern fishing port
similarly, for fisherman saidi, the kilwa fishing port project, which is expected to be completed next year, also gives him hope in life.
the project aims to turn kilwa in southeastern tanzania into the country's first modern fishing port. the project, undertaken by china harbour engineering company, has a designed annual fish unloading capacity of 60,000 tons. it is a flagship project of the tanzanian government's third five-year plan and an important tool for the government to activate new economic growth points.
xu xinpei, head of the east africa regional management center of china harbour engineering company, introduced that the kilwa fishing port project started in february last year, and the overall progress has reached 75%, and it is expected to be successfully completed next year. after completion, the project will become an important platform for the development of tanzania's marine fisheries, and will also promote the upgrading and development of the marine fishery industry chain and port-related industries.
this is a picture of the kilwa fishing port project construction taken by a drone on august 30. (photo provided by china harbour engineering company)saidi said that tanzanian fishermen are looking forward to the port construction. "in the past, due to the lack of refrigeration facilities, our fish would rot and spoil soon after being caught, and we could only sell them in surrounding areas, with limited sales and income. after the fishing port is built, we will no longer have nightmares about the fish becoming smelly because we can't sell them."
the highest "road to wealth"
juma is a banana grower living near the southwestern tanzanian city of mbeya. his life has also changed dramatically due to a road built by a chinese company. before, due to the poor road conditions, juma often could not transport fresh bananas to the market in time and could only sell them cheaply to local residents.
the mbeya-lwangiro highway project undertaken by china communications construction group is 36 kilometers long and is an important part of the national trunk roads in southwestern tanzania. the entire project is built along the mountain ridge with an average altitude of more than 2,000 meters, making it the highest highway in tanzania. the project was completed and opened to traffic in 2017.
this is a photo taken on april 3, 2019 of the mbeya-lwangiro highway in tanzania, which was built by china communications construction. the entire project is built along the mountain ridge, with an average altitude of more than 2,000 meters, making it the highest highway in tanzania. (photo by xinhua news agency reporter li sibo)juma's life has also changed because of the road built in front of his home. this road has greatly shortened the transportation time of bananas. recalling his feelings when he first transported bananas to a larger market, juma smiled and said: "i can finally sell my bananas to more people."
li xuecai, general manager of china communications construction co., ltd. tanzania branch, introduced that the opening of the mbeya-rwangiro highway not only facilitates the travel of people along the route, but also boosts the export of agricultural products, contributing to economic development and poverty reduction.
let more villages "light up"
in the geita region of northern tanzania, every night when night falls, the girl kakili and her family rush to turn on the lights. when the bright and warm lights fill the hut and the lights of each household are connected together, kakili feels full of happiness.
in april this year, the fifth section of the tanzania rural power grid medium and low voltage transmission line turnkey project undertaken by china railway construction group east africa company was fully powered on, and more than 8,000 households in the rural areas of geita district were connected to the power grid one after another.
"our goal is to quickly provide electricity and 'light up' more villages," said jiang yuntao, chairman of china railway construction group east africa company. the project will provide basic electricity to 127 villages, while serving public facilities such as hospitals and schools, and improving local people's livelihood.
this is a picture taken on april 26 of a village in geita district after it was electrified. (photo courtesy of china railway construction group)
"in the past, we could only use oil lamps or candles for lighting, which were dim and posed a fire risk. now, the village has electricity and bright lights. some families have even bought televisions and radios. we get together in the evening to watch shows and chat, and life has become colorful," said oliva, kakili's neighbor.
let people drink "safe water"
once upon a time, emmanuelle was always worried about giving her children safe water to drink. she lives in arusha, a northern tanzanian city, and is a mother of four children. due to the lack of water supply facilities in the area, emmanuelle, who already lives in financial difficulty, has to spend more money to buy drinking water to prevent her children from getting sick from drinking unclean water.
this is a photo of residents in arusha, a northern city in tanzania, washing vegetables with tap water on january 28, 2024. (photo by xinhua news agency reporter hua hongli)today, emmanuel can get "safe drinking water" next to his home - the arusha new water supply system project undertaken by china power construction group was completed in june last year. the water from the foot of mount kilimanjaro is being treated through this water supply system and continuously delivered to more than 400,000 households in arusha city.
humphrey moshi, director of the center for chinese studies at the university of dar es salaam, told reporters that in recent years, from strategic projects to livelihood projects, china-africa cooperation has helped tanzania's national development, significantly improved tanzania's infrastructure conditions, and created a large number of employment opportunities for the country. many projects undertaken by chinese companies focus on the welfare of local people and go beyond economic interests, injecting new vitality into china-africa cooperation and setting a new example for south-south cooperation.
