DAR ES SALAAM, Jan. 25 -- THE Tanzania– Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), widely known as the “Freedom Railway,” stands as one of the most remarkable infrastructure projects in modern African history. Constructed between 1970 and 1975 through a unique partnership between Tanzania, Zambia and the Peoples Republic of China, the railway was conceived not merely as a transport corridor, but as a political, economic and diplomatic instrument. Its primary objective was to free landlocked Zambia from economic dependence on whiteminority-ruled regimes in Southern Africa by providing a secure alternative route for exporting copper and other goods to the Indian Ocean via the Port of Dar es Salaam.

At a time when Western nations ...