Tanzania’s government has given the green light for the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, a 1,445km (897 miles) project stretching from the coastal region of Tanga to Uganda.

The country’s minister for energy, Dr Medard Kalemani said that the negotiation process that had started in May 2017 was finally complete.

This paves the way for the start of the $3.55bn (£2.5bn) pipeline. Between 10,000 and 15,000 jobs are expected to be created once the project kicks off.

Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan made her first foreign trip to Uganda to oversee the signing of the agreement with her Ugandan counterpart.

Once completed, the project will be the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world.