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 ...

, located in Kilombero District, Morogoro Region. 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 stalk ...

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 off the Tanzania Railways Corporation 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, 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 Dar es Salaam. Under a deal with Tanzania, metre gauge trains that connect with trains at Kidatu are operated by the Trans Africa Railway Corporation. Approximately of traffic passes through the hub each year.

Industry

Kidatu has a sugar mill.Goliath Sugar
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References

External links