THE government is holding talks with a Chinese company that has expressed interest to invest upwards of $1bn in a city traffic decongesting project slated for Dar es Salaam city centre.

David Kafulila, the Treasury executive director for public-private partnership (PPP) said at a weekend press conference that the China Overseas Engineering Group Co. Ltd. (COVEC) is expected to build outer and inner ring roads in the commercial capital under the PPP mode.

COVEC has made an informal expression of interest to the government to invest in an infrastructure project of the sort, where a pre-feasibility study for the proposed project has already been completed, he stated.

The investor is requesting a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government to complete a full feasibility study for the project, with tentative project capital expenditures (CAPEX) cost pegged at about $1bn, he stated.

A 2020 study by the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) figured out that traffic congestion in Dar es Salaam eats up to 20 per cent of company business profits on average.

At the time that the move to Dodoma was at its high drive and flyovers being built, peak-hour driving was exasperating for drivers in and around Dar es Salaam, a fastest-growing city as are various business hubs in Africa.

The government invested in various projects to upgrade the city's infrastructure and ease traffic congestion, like the construction of flyovers at busy intersections, as well as current expansion of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project financed by the World Bank.

Ring roads will redirect part of incoming and outgoing traffic from the city centre, the director noted, stating that outer roads will help to shift traffic from overloaded routes around the city and reduce travel time.

Six inner ring roads and four outer ring roads are expected to be built under the project, in a project that speaks volumes on the company‘s vocation.

Since its creation three decades years ago, COVEC has undertaken hundreds of large and medium sized projects in most parts of the world, with a total contract value of $12.2bn and a turnover of $8.5bn.

Projects implemented by the Chinese public entity cover housing construction, roads, bridges, irrigation and water conservancy, photovoltaic power stations and other fields, the director added.