Kidatu is a town in central

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

, located in

Kilombero District Kilombero District is a district in Morogoro Region, south-western Tanzania. The district is situated in a vast floodplain, between the Kilombero River in the south-east and the Udzungwa-Mountains in the north-west. On the other side of the Kil ...

Morogoro Region Morogoro Region (''Mkoa wa Morogoro'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Ireland. Morogoro Region is border ...

. The local population is about 3,300. The primary economic activity is the large Illovo

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

and factory which produces of sugar per year.

Geography

It lies on plains to the south of mountains to the north.

Transport

Kidatu is the terminus of a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

branch line from

Kilosa Kilosa (Kilossa) is a city in the Morogoro Region of Tanzania, East Africa. It is the administrative seat for Kilosa District. , the population of the town was 26,060. Transport Kilosa is a station on Tanzania's east-west Central Line (Tanzania) ...

off the

Tanzania Railways Corporation The Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) is a state-owned enterprise that runs one of Tanzania's two main railway networks. When the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation was dissolved in 1977 and its assets divided between Kenya, Tan ...

Central line, built between 1958 and 1963.. In the 1970s, the newer

TAZARA The Tazara Railway, also called the Uhuru Railway or the Tanzam Railway, is a railway in East Africa linking the port of Dar es Salaam in east Tanzania with the town of Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia's Central Province. The single-track railway is ...

railway was built through. It is about from

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

, either via the north or TAZARA.

Transshipment hub

Since 1998, a

transshipment Transshipment, trans-shipment or transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, then to another destination. One possible reason for transshipment is to change the means of transport during the journey (e.g. ...

station has been provided to overcome the

break-of-gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot ...

at this location. This hub connects the large zone of southern Africa and bypasses congestion at

. Under a deal with Tanzania,

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...

trains that connect with trains at Kidatu are operated by the

Trans Africa Railway Corporation The Trans Africa Railway Corporation is a company that runs the break of gauge transshipment station at Kidatu, Tanzania. Gauge To the north of Kidatu is the system of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. To the south of Kitadu is the system of TAZARA, ...

. Approximately of traffic passes through the hub each year.

Industry

Kidatu has a

sugar mill A sugar cane mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw or white sugar. The term is also used to refer to the equipment that crushes the sticks of sugar cane to extract the juice. Processing There are a number of steps in pro ...

.Goliath Sugar
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References

External links