STORY: Chinese-built railway project in Tanzania empowers women in employment
DATELINE: June 17, 2023
LENGTH: 00:05:37
LOCATION: DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Tanzania Central Line Standard Gauge Railway Fifth Section Project
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Swahili): NYAMIZI RAMADHANI MIHONGA, Roller operator
3. various of Mihonga working on her road roller
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Swahili): MARY DALALI MACHIBYA, Steel fixer
5. various of Michibya working with others on the construction site
6. various of aerial view of Tanzania Central Line Standard Gauge Railway Fifth Section Project

STORYLINE:

Tanzania's Standard Gauge Railway project seeks to open up quicker transport corridors towards the vast hinterland of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, and Uganda.

The Chinese-built Tanzania Central Line Standard Gauge Railway Fifth Section Project is located in the northern region of Tanzania, connecting the provinces of Mwanza, Simiyu, and Shinyanga, which is an important part of the country's Standard Gauge Railway project, and will be connected to Lake Victoria, the world's second-largest freshwater lake.

The project now has about 1,300 local employees, including more than 30 female employees, accounting for 3 percent of the workforce. They are engaged in technical work such as senior employees, social commissioners, document controllers, experimentalists, and equipment operators.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Swahili): NYAMIZI RAMADHANI MIHONGA, Roller operator
"My name is Nyamizi Ramadhani Mihonga, a resident of Mwanza, and I work with CCECC as a roller machine operator. I have been working here for a year.
Once this project is completed, it will bring a lot of benefits like transportation of goods and people in general, and our economy will grow.
I feel so good to be part of this project. I feel so happy and I advise other girls like me to practice and learn so they can be operators like me."

SOUNDBITE 2 (Swahili): MARY DALALI MACHIBYA, Steel fixer
"My name is Mary Dalali Machibya. I am 31 years old and working with CCECC.
In this project, I work as a steel fixer, simply dealing with iron, where I help in the construction of bridges among others.
I just learned these skills within this project, where until now I have worked for seven months here.
As women, we are capable of anything, because it's a matter of working hard and sweating at work. You see, it's not about the work being so hard; it's just a matter of deciding and everything is possible.
This is a good job and I advise other women that whenever another project like this happens, they have to rush and do it, and not think about it's a difficult thing to do. It's all about hard work.
When this project is completed, it will have a lot of benefits. For instance, in the issue of transportation, people will move from place to place, and other commodities as well."

The project starts in Mwanza City and ends in Isaka City, with a total length of 237 kilometers.

The project is a design and construction project, including the design and construction of earthworks, bridge and culvert structures, track engineering, station building engineering, and four electrical engineering works along the line. The project started on May 15, 2021.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
(XHTV)