Also known in investment literature as Mbegani deep-sea port. Thirteen years of announcements about a $10 billion port project on Tanzania's coast, most of them followed by delay, a change of investor, or a denial. This page tracks what happened, what was only said, and by whom.
Announced. Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete and China's President Xi Jinping announced a plan to build a deep-water port at Bagamoyo, north of Dar es Salaam. China Merchants Holdings was named to build the port; Oman's State General Reserve Fund was to finance an adjoining industrial zone. The cost projected at the time was $10 billion.
Confirmed. A ceremonial groundbreaking was held, marking a nominal start to construction. It was not followed by sustained, visible physical works — the first instance of the announce-then-stall pattern that repeats through the rest of this page.
Confirmed. The government of President John Magufuli suspended the project, with officials describing the investors' proposed terms as "exploitative."
Announced. After Samia Suluhu Hassan became president in March 2021, her government signaled intent to revive the project. In 2022 it announced that construction would begin in 2023, this time under direct government leadership rather than the original China–Oman investor structure.
Confirmed. In August 2022, press reports said the original Chinese and Omani investors had withdrawn from negotiations.
Announced. Reports circulated that Saudi Arabia had acquired the port as part of a $10 billion "East Gate" investment programme.
Denied. Within days, Tanzania's Minister of Planning and Investment told Parliament the report was "fake news," stating the government had signed no agreement with any investor. That same month, the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) signed separate, non-binding memoranda of understanding with Saudi, Chinese, and Egyptian firms — it remains unclear which, if any, reflected a real commitment.
Announced. Tanzania's government said construction of the deep-water port would begin in December 2025.
Confirmed. The TPA signed a memorandum of understanding with Africa Global Logistics (AGL), a subsidiary of shipping line MSC, to design, build, and operate the first three of a planned 28 berths — this time with a working port operator, not only a sovereign investment fund as in earlier versions of the deal. Trade press, including Container News, Maritime Executive, and Ecofin, reported the budget assigned to this first phase — berth foundations and access works — at roughly 22 billion Tanzanian shillings (about $9.3 million), a small fraction of the project's headline $10 billion cost.
Announced. Civil works were said to begin this month, with a three-year timeline projected for the first three berths.
Contradicts the announcement above. TPA Director General Plasduce Mbossa told Daily News that physical works — dredging, the access channel, the berths — had not yet started, and were expected to begin "next month" (August 2026). In other words, the January 2026 start announced above did not happen as announced. (Daily News, 27 July 2026.)
Checked again: 20 September 2026. No independent source confirms that dredging began in August 2026 as Mbossa said it would. Everything publicly available is either the November–December 2025 announcements of the plan, or Mbossa's own July 2026 statement — nothing from the first three quarters of 2026 confirms work under way on the ground. This is at least the fourth time in this chronology that an announced start date has passed without independent confirmation it was met.
The financing thread runs through the whole chronology above: China and Oman were meant to fund the project from 2013 until the 2019 suspension; afterward, Tanzania's government spoke of funding it directly; the February 2025 Saudi claim was denied within days; and since December 2025 the confirmed partner is AGL/MSC, so far for a small first phase.
Sources disagree on the total project cost. $10 billion is the figure from the original 2013 announcement and the most frequently repeated one. Trade press covering the AGL deal has cited $2.1 billion. DredgeWire has cited $11 billion. No source reconciles these figures; this page reports the disagreement rather than choosing one.
Sources also disagree on the final number of berths. Most sources say 28. Daily News, quoting Director General Mbossa directly on 27 July 2026, said 38.
Some coverage frames the project as a gateway to landlocked markets in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo via the existing TAZARA railway (Tanzania–Zambia Railway). There is no dedicated name or standalone project for "a Bagamoyo corridor" distinct from the port itself and the existing TAZARA line — it appears in coverage as a connectivity benefit, not as a named product.
Announced. During a state visit reported on 27 July 2026, Tanzania and Egypt were said to have proposed linking Bagamoyo to the Kwala Industrial Park and Tanzania's standard-gauge railway (SGR), with both countries described as in the "final phase" of planning a Dar es Salaam–Cairo multimodal logistics hub. As described in that report, the hub connects the port of Dar es Salaam, not explicitly Bagamoyo — this page treats the claim with the same caution as the rest of this chronology until a source ties it to Bagamoyo specifically.
For a dated answer to "is anything happening right now," see construction status. The port sits inside a much larger special economic zone with its own, separately confirmed investors — see the Bagamoyo Special Economic Zone. And for the town the port is named after, centuries older than the project, see Bagamoyo town.
Last substantive update: 20 September 2026. This page is reviewed at least every six months even when nothing has changed.