Kenya-Uganda Meter-Gauge Railway To Be Up And Running In October

NAKURU, Kenya, Sept 13 – Developing and utilizing existing infrastructure to link up East African nations remains a top priority of member states in a bid to improve trade and spur economic growth.

Already, plans are underway to link up the historic railway network between Kenya and Uganda with the government now saying the exercise should take at least one month before it becomes operational.

While visiting the Inland Container Depot in Mai Mahiu that has been operational since last year, East African Community principal secretary Kevin Desai announced that transportation of cargo from Mombasa to Naivasha will be done through the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and later through the Meter-gauge from Naivasha to Malaba.

“The East African Community is working on a seamless interconnectivity and this will be achieved in a month’s time when works on the meter-gauge railway line is complete,” Desai said.

The transportation will make the flow of goods from Kenya to Rwanda and Burundi even more efficient as government is set to introduce a 24-hour service at the Port of Mombasa and the Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Mai Mahiu, Naivasha.

Rail system has been hailed as cost-effective as neighboring countries work on easing trade amongst themselves.

“By collecting goods from the Inland Container Depot, traders from the neighboring countries will have reduced the distance covered by trailers by over 400kms. Operations on the depot are on the rise and it has a higher potential and of the cargo received here 30 percent is on transit,” he said.

Over 11,000 containers have been stored at the inland Container Depot to date. Further plans are to synergies operations with the port of Mombasa.

“By making the Port and the Inland Container Depot in Naivasha operational for 24 hours, we shall make them competitive in the region,” he said.

In order to facilitate the ease of doing business, the business park is set to be fully operational with the government already digging at least five boreholes to supply 6,000 cubic meters of water per day.