Afreximbank provides Elsewedy Electric to establish $400 mln industrial city in Tanzania
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is supporting Egyptian Elsewedy Electric to establish the Egyptian Industrial City (EIC) in Tanzania at a cost of nearly $400 million, head of research at the Afreximbank Frederick Seidu said.
The EIC is the first fully integrated industrial city in Tanzania intended to become a center for economic growth in Africa, according to Elsewedy, who inaugurated the first phase of the industrial complex in December in the presence of Tanzanian President Samia Hassan.
Built on 2.2 million square meters, the industrial park will accommodate labor-intensive industries from pharmaceuticals, automotives, to textiles and agro-industries with the aim of attracting over $400 million worth of investments from 4,100 investors across the region, which would create more than 25,000 jobs, according to Elsewedy’s website.
The industrial city is strategically located with access and proximity to the commercial capital Dar Es Salam, Julius Nyerere International Airport, Kamata Train Station, and Tanzania International Container Terminal as well as Elsewedy manufacturing plants.
The complex will also produce the solutions and equipment necessary for the 2025 Industrialisation Strategy of Tanzania and will create more than 500 jobs for talented youths and technical engineers in the first phase alone.
Elsewhere in Tanzania
An Egyptian consortium of Elsewedy Electric and the Arab Contractors Company has been constructing Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere Hydroelectric Power Project (JNHPP) since 2019.
Last week, Egypt’s Minister of Housing Assem El-Gazzar had an inspection tour of the construction site of the at the 2,115 MW hydropower project constructed on the Rufiji River, where she said “the project has reached advanced levels”.
The work on the $2.9 billion JNHPP has been ongoing since 2019 and is expected to be completed by the end of this year, when it will provide clean power for more than 60 million Tanzanians as well as control water flow during flooding.
The JNHPP is 1,025 metres long at the summit and 131 metres high with a storage capacity of about 34 billion cubic metres of water.
The JNHPP is expected to produce 5,920 GWh of power annually.
Afreximbank cooperation horizons
During his speech at the Seventh Edition of the Builders of Egypt Forum on Monday, Seidu asserted that the bank is cooperating with the African Federation of Construction Contractors Associations (AFCCA) to provide all means of support in order to develop construction and infrastructure projects on the continent.
Afreximbank is also working to provide the necessary liquidity to implement projects that support African infrastructure, in addition to strengthening African trade agreements, especially the COMESA agreement, Seidu added.
He pointed out that the bank is working to launch a special program worth $1.7 billion to localise the auto industry in Africa and promote the establishment of commercial companies to manufacture and assemble cars.
Afreximbank is a multilateral financial development institution that includes 51 member states in Africa.
In April 2022, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a loan agreement worth $200 million with Afreximbank to support COVID-19 responses through the private sector and boost social and economic recovery from the pandemic in Africa
Under the agreement, Afreximbank will deploy the loan to advance the development of local production capacities for vaccines and medical products, with the overarching ambition to promote the self-reliance of African countries in their response to the pandemic and reduce their dependence on non-African products and international supply chains.
