Bagamoyo Port tracker

Twenty dated claims about this project, from the 2013 agreement to the last check. Filter them by status, by who said it, or by keyword — and read the counters against today, not against the day someone wrote a press release.

51 days since 1 August 2026 The month the TPA named, in July 2026, for dredging to start.
289 days since the AGL memorandum Signed 6 December 2025 for the first three of 28 berths.
6 announced dates now in the past Six start or completion dates announced since 2015. See the list.
Never physical construction at the port independently confirmed Checked 20 September 2026. A 2015 groundbreaking ceremony is the only physical event on the record.

What this is. Every row below appears somewhere on this site in prose. The difference here is that you can ask it questions: show me everything the Tanzania Ports Authority has denied; show me every claim from 2025; show me what is still unverified. No other source on this project lets you do that, because no other source keeps the denials next to the announcements.

Every dated claim on this site, oldest first. Status labels are defined in the chronology.
Date Status Who What was claimed
2013 Announced Tanzanian government An initial agreement is signed at a ceremony witnessed by presidents Kikwete and Xi Jinping. China Merchants Group to build; Oman's State General Reserve Fund to finance the zone. Cost put at $10 billion.
2015 Confirmed Tanzanian government A groundbreaking ceremony. Kikwete says the port will be complete within three years — by 2018.
2016-06 Announced Tanzanian government 20 million containers a year, 25 times Dar es Salaam's throughput. 2,000 people have lost homes or farmland; compensation put at $20.9 million.
2017-11 Announced Tanzanian government Deputy minister Stella Manyanya tells Parliament operations will start in 2020–2021. The project is stopped eighteen months later.
2019-05 Confirmed Tanzania Ports Authority The project stops. TPA director general Deusdedit Kakoko says the investors' conditions were likely to deny Tanzania maximum benefit: freedom to set cargo charges, tax exemptions, and compensation for losses during implementation.
2021-03 Announced Tanzanian government President Samia Suluhu Hassan states an intent to revive the project.
2022-08 Confirmed Tanzanian government Minister Makame Mbarawa announces the Chinese and Omani firms have dropped out of talks.
2022-09 Announced Tanzania Ports Authority A month after the withdrawal, TPA director general Plasduce Mbossa says construction will start in 2023 without an investor: “Investors will join us on the way.” It does not start in 2023.
2024-04 Confirmed Tanzanian government Deputy minister David Kihenzile tells Parliament that compensation to relocated landowners is complete. The only step in the whole record that is both confirmed and finished.
2025-02-13 Announced Saudi Arabia The Saudi Press Agency quotes Hassan Al-Huwaizi, chairman of the Federation of Saudi Chambers of Commerce, saying Tanzania has granted a Saudi company ownership and operating rights over Bagamoyo under the East Gateway project.
2025-02-13 Denied Tanzanian government The same day, a senior official tells Daily News the information is false: the meeting concerned a joint business plan, not a transfer of ownership.
2025-02-14 Denied Saudi Arabia The Saudi embassy in Tanzania calls the reports “entirely baseless and misleading” and says the Kingdom has not engaged in any negotiations to acquire the port.
2025-02-24 Denied Tanzania Ports Authority Mbossa, in Dodoma: “We have not signed any contract for the construction of Bagamoyo Port.” What is under way is a review of the feasibility study.
2025-02-25 Confirmed Tanzania Ports Authority The day after that denial, the TPA signs memoranda of understanding with Chinese, Egyptian and Saudi companies. That they were signed is confirmed; no source establishes that any was binding.
2025-11 Announced Tanzanian government A senior official says construction will begin in December, ending a decade of delays.
2025-12-06 Confirmed Investor or operator The TPA signs a memorandum of understanding with Africa Global Logistics, an MSC subsidiary, to design, build and operate three of 28 planned berths. The first counterparty in the project's history that actually operates ports. It is a memorandum, not a construction contract.
2026-01 Announced Tanzania Ports Authority At the signing, Mbossa says: “We expect to begin construction of the three new berths at the Port of Bagamoyo early in January.” Three years were projected for the three berths.
2026-05-31 Confirmed Tanzanian Parliament A parliamentary committee visits the Special Economic Zone and verifies 24 investors with land assigned, with site preparation under way. The first activity confirmed by direct observation rather than announcement — but this is the zone, not the port.
2026-07-27 Confirmed Tanzania Ports Authority Mbossa tells Daily News that the first phase — dredging, access channel, initial berths — is scheduled to start “next month”, meaning August 2026. This confirms that the December 2025 and January 2026 dates passed without the works they announced. The same interview puts capacity at 38 berths, against 28 in the AGL memorandum.
2026-09-20 Unverified This site Checked again. No independent source confirms that dredging began in August 2026 as the TPA's own director general said it would. This row records the absence of a source, not a source — which is why it has no link.

What would change these numbers

Satellite imagery of the Mbegani site, a contractor progress report, a TPA statement describing work done rather than work planned, or an AGL disclosure converting the memorandum into a construction contract. Any one of those moves a row from Announced to Confirmed. Until one appears, the counters above go up and nothing else changes — which is itself the finding.

Ledger last extended: 21 September 2026. The counters recompute in your browser against today's date; with JavaScript off they show the values as of that date. Reviewed at least quarterly alongside construction status.