India to provide necessary help to Tanzanian Railways

New Delhi, Sep 15 (UNI) The Indian governmennt today assured all necessary assistance in the operation and management of Railways in Tanzania.

This was conveyed to the Tanzanian delegation led by its Minister of Infrastructure Development Shukuru J Kawambwa by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad.

The request of the Government of Tanzania for providing the Indian line of credit on soft terms amounting to 83 million dollars will be considered positively to make Tanzanian Railways a viable entity in long term, the Minister said.

RITES, a Public Sector Undertaking of Indian Railways, will continue to extend professional expertise and provide requisite resources to Railways in Tanzania, he added.

RITES and Government of Tanzania have also set up a Joint Venture, namely 'Tanzania Railways Ltd' (TRL), to operate and manage Tanzanian Railways with RITES holding 51 per cent equity and the balance equity being held by the Government of Tanzania, an official statement said.

Under this project, the TRL will operate and manage Railways on concession terms for the period of 25 years, it added.

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