Integration of Transport and Land Use Planning by Transit-Oriented Development for Economic Sustainability of the Standard Gauge Railway Projects in Tanzania

Tanzania is one of the countries in Africa that has engaged in the projects for construction of the electrified Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). However, lack of integration of transportation and land-use planning threatens economic sustainability of the SGR project. This study was carried out for the purpose of finding-out how transportation can be integrated with land-use planning for economic sustainability of the project. The study was carried-out by using qualitative research approach through demonstration as case study. Findings show that construction of the SGR is not integrated with land-use planning around the stations and along the SGR corridor. It is concluded that economic sustainability of the SGR projects can be achieved by integration of transport and land-use planning. As demonstrated, it is recommended to deliberate for integration of transportation and land-use planning in the SGR projects of which the prime land within Transit Stations can be efficiently used by using Transit Oriented Development and secure more land for production activities around the Transit Stations and along the SGR corridor.

Challenges of the Performance Standards of the International Finance Corporation in Financing the African Integrated High-Speed Railway Network and the Way Forward: The Case of Standard Gauge Railway in Tanzania

Financing of the African Integrated High-Speed Railway Network (AIHSRN) through Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Projects is very expensive. As a result, most of the African countries seek financial supports from the International Financial Institutions (IFIs). However, conditions provided by the IFIs through the Performance Standards (PS) of the International Financial Corporation (IFC) increase cost of the projects and thus, it becomes a burden to most of the African countries. This study aimed to explore the causes of IFC-PS through the SGR Projects that escalate costs and how to address them. The Tanzania SGR Lot 1 Project that covered 205 km from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro was selected as a case study. The methods used for data collection involved literature review, focus group discussions and interviews. The results and findings show a gap between the IFC-PS and the National Laws and Regulations that escalates costs of the projects if funds from the IFIs were to be secured. To bridge the gap, it is recommended that the African countries should engage into negotiations with the IFIs to agree to waive IFC-PS conditions that escalate costs provided they are adequately covered in the national laws and regulations;engagement of locally established national and regional financial institutions;and the responsible government institutions in the African countries should sit together for assessment and review of the IFC-PS against the national laws and regulations.

Adjusting precipitation measurements from the TRwS204 automatic weighing gauge in the Qilian Mountains, China

With the popularity of the automatic precipitation gauges in national weather stations,testing their performance and adjusting their measurements are top priorities. Additionally,because different climatic conditions may have different effects on the performance of the precipitation gauges, it is also necessary to test the gauges in different areas. This study mainly analyzed precipitation measurements from the single-Altershielded TRwS204 automatic weighing gauge(TRwS_(SA)) relative to the adjusted manual measurements(reference precipitation) from the Chinese standard precipitation gauge in a doublefence wind shield(CSPG_(DF)) in the Hulu watershed in the Qilian Mountains, China. The measurements were compared over the period from August 2014 to July2017, and the transfer function derived from the work by Kochendorfer et al.(2017 a) for correcting windinduced losses was applied to the TRwS_(SA) measurements. The results show that the average loss of TRwS_(SA) measurements relative to the reference precipitation decreased from 0.55 mm(10.7%) to 0.51 mm(9.9%) for rainfall events, from 0.35 mm(8.5%)to 0.22 mm(5.3%) for sleet events, and from 0.49 mm(18.9%) to 0.33 mm(12.7%) for snowfall events after adjustment. The uncorrected large biases of TRwS_(SA) measurements are considered to be mainly caused by specific errors of TRwS_(SA), different gauge orifice area and random errors. These types of errors must be considered when comparing precipitation measurements for different gauge types, especially in the mountains.

Investment Bells Ringing

It＇s just been over half a year since Kenya inaugurated its standard gauge railway, but already the transport system is seeing heavy demand from travelers between Nairobi and Mombasa.

Intercomparison measurements from commonly used precipitation gauges in the Qilian Mountains

Precipitation data is vital fundamental data for climate change.However,obtaining precise gauge-measured precipitation in high-altitude mountains is challenging,and the precipitation obtained from various gauge types at the same station may vary.To understand the differences in precipitation observations among the three commonly used gauges in China(Chinese Standard Precipitation Gauges(CSPG),Total Rain weighing Sensor(TRwS),and Geonor T-200B(T200B))in high-altitude mountains and to recommend a stable and cost-effective weighing gauge,a precipitation intercomparison experiment was conducted at Hulu-1 station in the Qilian Mountains.The wind-induced error in measurement was corrected with the‘universal’transfer function recommended by the Word Meteorological Organization.The comparison results,adjusted for systematic errors,showed that the rain,snow and mixed precipitation of CSPG and TRwS equipped with the same octagonal vertical double fence shields(CSPGDF and TRwSDF)and single-Alter shields(CSPG_(s)and TRwSs)were close,while the precipitation of Tretyakov-shielded T200B was notably higher than that of CSPG_(s)and TRwSs.The average differences in annual and daily precipitation between CSPGDF and TRwSDF from 2017 to 2021 were 12.9 mm and 0.10 mm,respectively.The daily precipitation difference between CSPG_(s)and TRwSs from April 2019–December 2021 was 0.10 mm,while the differences between T200Bs and CSPG_(s)and TRwSs was 0.28 mm and 0.38 mm,respectively.The wind shield performance of Alter and Tretyakov was not much different at Hulu-1 site with low wind speed,thus the measurement principle of T200Bs was the primary cause of the high observations.Taking the corrected CSPGDF measurement as the standard,the dynamic loss of CSPG_(s)was 17.6%,while that of CSPGUn was 55.6%,indicating that the single-Alter shield could effectively reduce the impact of wind on precipitation measurement.Considering the comparison results and the price difference of the instruments,it was recommended to use a single-Alter shielded TRwS gauge for precipitation observation in high-altitude mountains.

What can a heavy U(1)B-L Z'boson do to the muon(g-2)u anomaly and to a new Higgs boson mass?

The minimal U(1)B_L extension of the Standard Model(B-L-SM)offers an explanation for neutrino mass generatio n via a seesaw mechanism;it also offers two new physics states,namely an extra Higgs bos on and a new Z'gauge boson.The emerge nee of a second Higgs particle as well as a new Z'gauge boson,both lin ked to the breaking of a local U(1)B_L symmetry,makes the B-L-SM rather constrained by direct searches in Large Hadron Collider(LHC)experiments.We investigate the phenomenological status of the B-L-SM by confr on ting the new physics predictions with the LHC and electroweak precision data.Taking into account the current bounds from direct LHC searches,we demonstrate that the prediction for the muon(g-2)u anomaly in the B-L-SM yields at most a contribution of approximately 8.9×10^-12,which represents a tension of 3.28 standard deviations,with the current 1σuncertainty,by means of a Z'boson if its mass is in the range of 6.3 to 6.5 TeV,within the reach of future LHC runs.This means that the B-L-SM,with heavy yet allowed Z‘bos on mass range,in practice,does not resolve the tension between the observed anomaly in the muon(g-2)u and the theoretical prediction in the Standard Model.Such a heavy Z'boson also implies that the minimal value for the new Higgs mass is of the order of 400 GeV.