Mtwara (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: ''Montewara'') is the capital city of

Mtwara Region Mtwara Region (''Mkoa wa Mtwara'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The regional capital is the municipality of Mtwara. Mtwara Region is home to one of the most infuluencial people in Tanzania, the Makonde. Mtwara is ...

in southeastern

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 ...

. In the 1940s, it was planned and constructed as the export facility for the disastrous

Tanganyika groundnut scheme The Tanganyika groundnut scheme, or East Africa groundnut scheme, was a failed attempt by the British government to cultivate tracts of its African trust territory Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania) with peanuts. Launched in the aftermath of Worl ...

, but was somewhat neglected when the scheme was abandoned in 1951. The city is spread out over a large area planned to accommodate up to 200,000 people. The present population is around 108,000. As part of the development associated with the failed Tanganyika groundnut scheme, Mtwara features a

deep-water port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

that can accommodate ocean-going vessels, and a range of large municipal buildings, including a post office. Recent improvements in the port made it possible for big container ships to berth there.

Transportation

Road

Mtwara has reasonable transport links considering its remoteness in southern Tanzania. It is linked by paved roads with

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 ...

and Lindi to the north and

Masasi Masasi is one of the six districts of the Mtwara Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the north by the Lindi Region, to the east by the Newala District, to the south by the Ruvuma River and Mozambique and to the west by Nanyumbu District N ...

inland and by partially paved roads to

Newala Newala is one of the five districts of the Mtwara Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the west by the Masasi District, to the east by the Tandahimba District, to the south by Newala Town, and to the north by the Tandahimba and Masasi ...

in-land to the west. Beyond Masasi the road is newly paved for some 60 km towards Tunduru and the

Unity Bridge Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a ...

which provides a crossing point to

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Airport

The A19 links it with

Mbamba Bay Mbamba Bay is a town in western Tanzania, lying on the eastern shore of Lake Malawi/Lake Nyasa. Port Mbamba Bay has an indentation in the otherwise straight profile of the lake and may be a potential port. Transport In October 2007, it was ...

Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is the fifth largest fre ...

in the west. It features an airport with a paved runway that can accommodate medium size passenger jets.

Precision Air Precision Air Services Plc (operating as Precision Air; DSE:PAL) is a Tanzanian airline based at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam. The airline operates scheduled passenger services to Nairobi, Entebbe, and to various airp ...

runs a daily morning flight between

Mtwara Airport Mtwara Airport is an airport in southern Tanzania serving the town of Mtwara. Location The airport is located in Mtwara Region, approximately , by road, south of the town of Mtwara. This is approximately , by road and , by air, south of Julius N ...

and

Air Tanzania Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) ( sw, Kampuni ya Ndege ya Tanzania) is the flag carrier airline of Tanzania based in Dar es Salaam with its hub at Julius Nyerere International Airport. It was established as Air Tanzania Corporation (ATC ...

offers a flight in the afternoon. The flight time is around an hour. Facilities for landing do not allow for planes to use the airport when it is hidden in mist.

Bus

Mtwara serves as the access point for a small but growing tourism industry based in nearby

Mikindani Mikindani (''Mji wa kale wa Mikindani'' in Swahili) is a historic coastal town located in Mtwara-Mikindani District of Mtwara Region in Tanzania. The name comes from the Swahili word ''mikinda'' which means "young coconut trees". Therefore the ...

. New roads of a good standard were being built in 2013 within the city. Most of the roads have never been sealed. There is a choice of bus companies which provide daily services between Mtwara and Dar es Salaam. Also regular buses connect with

, the biggest town inland from Mtwara.

Port

The port is the third largest ocean port in the country and was built as part of the failed

. The port was neglected for many years, however with the recent economic boom in the region, the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

has spent funds for the upgrade of the port. Recently the port has seen added activity due to the construction of the

Dangote cement Dangote Cement Plc is a Nigerian publicly-traded multinational cement manufacturer headquartered in Lagos. The company is engaged in the manufacture, preparation, import, packaging, and distribution of cement and related products in Nigeria, and h ...

factory and increased gas exploration activities. The port in the future is planned to facilitate exports such as Cashew nuts, Iron, Coal and Gas. The port also has an Export Processing zone to facilitate the manufacturing industry in the area.

Economy

Iron ore and coal

Mtwara might be the port for the export of iron ore and coal. There are plans to build a railway linking Mtwara with

Lindi Lindi is a historic southern Tanzanian coastal small city and regional capital of the Lindi Region located at the far end of Lindi Bay, on the Indian Ocean in southeastern Tanzania. The town is south of Dar es Salaam and north of Mtwara, ...

and mines at

Mchuchuma Mchuchuma in south western Tanzania near Ludewa off the northern tip of Lake Nyasa, is the site of major coal deposits. There is also a thermal power station costing$612m. Recent studies indicate that Mchuchuma/ Ketewaka coal deposits should be c ...

and

Liganga Liganga is a site in Njombe Region, Tanzania where iron ore is mined in Liganga mine. It is also rich in both vanadium and titanium. The deposits are near Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Moz ...

via

Songea Songea is the capital of Ruvuma Region in southwestern Tanzania. It is located along the A19 road. The city has a population of approximately 203,309, and it is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Songea. Between 1905 and 1907, the cit ...

. In the year 2003, there were proposals for transporting coal from the

Ludewa Ludewa is a town and ward in Ludewa District of Njombe Region Njombe Region (''Mkoa wa Njombe'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers a land area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined lan ...

and

Njombe Njombe is a town in southern Tanzania. It is the regional capital of Njombe Region as well as the district headquarter of Njombe Rural District and Njombe Urban District. It is located at nearly 2000 meters of altitude on the eastern edge of the ...

regions respectively by rail to the port of Mtwara in Southern Tanzania as part of the

Mtwara Development Corridor The Mtwara Development Project is a major infrastructure development project involving southern Tanzania, northern Mozambique, eastern Malawi and Eastern Zambia. The goal of this project is to provide road, rail and waterway access from the surroun ...

project.

Cement

Mtwara hosts a branch of the

Dangote Cement Dangote Cement Plc is a Nigerian publicly-traded multinational cement manufacturer headquartered in Lagos. The company is engaged in the manufacture, preparation, import, packaging, and distribution of cement and related products in Nigeria, and h ...

Public Limited Company.

Geography

Climate

Due to close proximity to the equator and the warm

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

, the city experiences tropical climatic conditions similar to all

n coastal cities. The city experiences hot and humid weather throughout much of the year and has a tropical wet and dry climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''Aw''). Annual rainfall is approximately , and in a normal year the rainy season lasts from November to April/May and the dry season from then until late October.

Sports

Football (Soccer)

Mtwara is the hometown of Bandari F.C. and NDANDA F. C.

Twin towns – sister cities

Mtwara is twinned with: *

Redditch Redditch is a town, and local government district, in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district has a population of 85,000 as of 2019. In the 19th century, it became the international centre for the ...

, United Kingdom

References

External links

* {{Coord, 10, 16, 25, S, 40, 10, 58, E , region:TZ_type:city , display=title Regional capitals in Tanzania Populated places in Mtwara Region