HC Deb 30 May 1952 vol 501 c200W
Mr. Russell

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies when he expects coal to be produced from the newly proved coalfields in Tanganyika.

Mr. Hopkinson

There has already been a small sample output of coal from these fields, but their commercial development depends on rail transport. The coal alone, however, might not make a railway economic and, therefore, no decision about building a railway can be made until the economic and engineering surveys of Southern Tanganyika, which are expected in about two months' time, have been considered. In any event, it will hardly be possible to complete a railway before 1955. Meanwhile exploratory work continues on the coalfields.