The Tanzanian government has secured funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for construction of a new international airport 12km from the administrative capital, Dodoma.

Work will be carried out over four years and the new facility is expected to handle at least 50 000 aircraft and a million passengers per year – the majority of whom will be international business and leisure travellers.

“An expanded air transport network in Dodoma, together with the ongoing high-speed railway construction on the central corridor, are necessary infrastructure investments to help unlock and disperse spatial development in the countryside,” said Amadou Oumarou, Director of the AfDB Infrastructure and Urban Development Department.

He said the airport would strengthen the city’s potential as a strategic growth pole in keeping with Tanzania’ national development aspirations of fostering shared growth for all the regions.

The funding package comprises a $198.6 million loan from the AfDB, $23.52 million from the African Development Fund and $50 million in co-financing with the Africa Growing Together Fund – a co-financing facility of the People’s Republic of China managed by the AfDB.

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