· Uganda and Kenya are joining hands to push the rehabilitation and seamless connection of the old metre gauge railway line.
· Officials from both, the countries met to thrash out operational details.
· This is expected to improve connectivity with the growing markets of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
Uganda and Kenya are joining hands to push the rehabilitation and seamless connection of the old metre gauge railway line. Officials from both countries met to thrash out operational details. This is expected to improve connectivity with the growing markets of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
It is reported that Kenya, which is revamping its metre gauge railway line from Naivasha to Malaba, is seeking a reliable mode of transport for onward transit of cargo into the hinterland. Besides strengthening its logistics infrastructure, Kenya is also targeting the $92.3 million Congolese market for its manufactured goods and is also keen to develop a link with Uganda at the earliest. The idea is to have a seamless operation of the metre gauge railway line from Naivasha all the way to Kampala.
Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) is already in talks with China Roads and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) to rehabilitate the Malaba-Kampala railway line. Kenya also is in discussions with CRBC to rehabilitate the Longonot- Malaba line.
After the failure to build a Northern Corridor standard gauge railway (SGR) for Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan for years, this new development will pave way for the two countries to access markets beyond their borders. Though signed in 2013 as part of the Northern Corridor Integration projects, the SGR has only been operational in Kenya from Mombasa to Nairobi since 2018. It is yet to connect Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan. The plan is to shift cargo from road to rail to move 6 million tonnes a year bringing down the costs and freeing the roads.
Uganda’s Parliament approved a $368.9 million loan to rehabilitate the metre gauge railway recently. The loan includes a concessional loan of €28.9 million ($34.9 million) sourced from the Corporate Internationalization Fund of Spain. The objective of the loan is to fund two projects -a two-year project for the construction of the railway, and a three-year capacity-building project. Connectivity improvement is a significant part of Uganda’s infrastructure diplomacy in the Great Lakes Region. Both projects are contracted to Spanish companies, with 30 per cent local content.
