East African Community Secretary-General Richard Sezibera addresses a
regional media conference in Kampala yesterday. PHOTO | FILBERT
RWEYEMAMU
By The Citizen Reporter
In Summary
- Tanzania’s massive port project said to have unsettled the region’s leading economy
- Tanzania’s aggressive ambition to invest in infrastructure, especially the construction of a Chinese funded multibillion-dollar project, has caused panic in the region
The Coalition of the Willing, which rocked the
East African Community in recent months, was triggered by fear over
competition for economic dominance in the region, The Citizen has learnt.
Reports from Kampala hint that Tanzania’s
aggressive ambition to invest in infrastructure, especially the
construction of a Chinese funded multibillion-dollar port project,
caused panic, particularly in Kenya, which has dominated the region
because of its Mombasa port.
The revelation comes as Kenya yesterday launched
the construction of the Sh22 trillion 1,250-km Mombasa-Malaba railway
line in a ceremony attended by four presidents from the East African
region.
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday hosted
presidents Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Paul Kagame (Rwanda) and Salva Kiir
(South Sudan) in the ceremony. The line to be built by the China
Communications Construction Company will run from Mombasa to Malaba,
Kampala and then Kigali and later to Juba.
Construction work will be undertaken in three
phases with Phase One starting from Mombasa to Nairobi, followed by
Nairobi-Malaba and Kisumu in Phase Two and Malaba-Kisumu to Kampala in
Phase Three. The projected completion date is 2016.
But as the multitrillion shillings railway
launching took place in Mombasa yesterday, details that caused the
coalition of the willing emerged showing that Kenya was alarmed by
Tanzania’s $11 billion modern port project and plans to revive the
central railway.
According to Uganda’s government owned newspaper,
New Vision, at the heart of the struggle between the ‘coalition of the
willing’ on one hand against Tanzania and Burundi on the other, is the
competition for economic dominance between Kenya and Tanzania to control
the transport artery of movement of goods into the interior.
East Africa’s largest two economies, Tanzania and
Kenya, are in a simultaneous race for infrastructure development with
support from China, to spur their economies. There are ongoing works in
port expansion, setting up economic processing zones, agriculture road
railway networks, building satellite cities, minerals as well as oil and
gas explorations.
Both countries have strategic access to the Indian
Ocean and are gateways for international trade for the landlocked East
African Community neighbours. Kenya controls what is known as the
northern corridor route linking Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Sudan
and eastern DR Congo. Tanzania on the other hand, controls the central
development corridor for Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and additionally,
eastern DR Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
But the central corridor has an added advantage
with access to more landlocked countries than the northern corridor.
China and Tanzania signed a framework to construct $11bn port in
Bagamoyo, which is set to become Africa’s largest port with a capacity
to handle 20 million cargo containers a year.
This will undoubtedly overtake Mombasa port of
Kenya, presently considered to be the EAC’s largest port with a capacity
to handle 800,000 containers annually, The New Vision reported.
According to the paper, Kenya alarmed by the
growing Tanzania’s economic muscles, decided to consolidate potential
clients in the region by also embarking on massive
infrastructureprojects
Though The Citizen couldn’t independently verify the
claims by Uganda’s government paper, the circumstantial evidence
surrounding the sudden emergence of coalition of the willing mid this
year, confirm these claims.
In the aftermath of the 2007 post election
violence in Kenya, there was growing discontent about the use of the
northern corridor by traders from Uganda and Rwanda. Uganda, which is
Kenya’s biggest regional trading partner, contemplated using the
Tanzanian route via Dar es Salaam port.
Few years ago, Uganda weighed up the options of
using the port of Dar es Salaam whereby it signed a protocol with
Tanzania to use the Dar es Salaam Port to handle more Ugandan inbound
and outbound cargo via Mutukula through the central corridor.
This was because of inefficiencies on the northern corridor controlled through Kenya’s Mombasa port.
Currently, over 90 percent of Uganda’s imports and
exports transit through Mombasa with analysts predicting an increased
trade as Uganda joins the league of oil producing countries.
Strategically, Tanzania shares its border with all
the other four EAC member states of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda;
while Kenya only has Uganda and South Sudan, which aspires to join EAC.
Kenya – East Africa’s largest economy – needed to improve efficiency at
Mombasa or risk losing its position to the emergent Tanzania with the
upcoming port of Bagamoyo whose construction is expected to commence in
2015 and end in 2017.
Faced with the likelihood loss of the central
corridor has an added advantage with access to more landlocked countries
than the northern corridor business, Kenya has had to improve
efficiency at Mombasa in terms of cargo handling, reduce procedures and
arbitrary charges as well as elimination of weighbridges.
Also, Lamu port will serve the northern corridor
for oil and gas including Ethiopia. Kenya has also got into an
arrangement to woo its interior neighbours to implement the Common
Market Protocol provision that allows free movement of labour, starting
with Rwanda.
In 2011, Kenya and Rwanda were the first of EAC
member states to mutually agree not to charge any fees for work or
residence permits.
This placed the two countries ahead of their EAC
counterparts in implementing the protocol. But the arrangement could not
ignore Uganda which is the gateway to Rwanda. So, Uganda had to be
brought on board.
Also, the Kenya Ports Authority commissioned a new
berth at Mombasa to boost its cargo handling capacity. The berth was
launched by the three presidents under the trilateral cooperation.
The planned Arusha-Musoma Highway is expected to
connect Dar es Salaam to Uganda by ferry via the planned Bukasa port on
Lake Victoria. However, the highway’s dominance in Rwanda and Burundi
could also be affected by the Dar-es-Salaam-Isaka- Kigali/Keza-Musongati
railway, which connects Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo. The State of East
Africa report mentions that the value of EAC’s total trade has
expanded; but with imports still dominating regional trade
In another development, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) have initiated agreements on economic
cooperation.
This follows isolation by their East African
Community (EAC) partners Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda in the so- called
“coalition of the willing.”
Representatives of the three countries met in
Bujumbura, Burundi as a follow-through to an earlier promise made by a
Tanzanian minister on the country’s intention to cooperate with Burundi
and DR Congo.
Addressing journalists on the cooperation, the
Tanzanian minister for East African Cooperation Samuel Sitta said
Tanzania, Burundi and Congo have agreed to jointly develop road, rail,
air and water transportation infrastructure. He said the meeting focused
on improving transport infrastructure on Lake Tanganyika, which joins
Tanzania, Burundi, DRC and Zambia.
“We also plan to develop Uvinza railway line from
the area to Msongati Tanzania, Burundi and also connecting roads Manyoni
- Tabora - Kigoma via Bujumbura to South Kivu, DRC,” said Sitta.
The meeting in Burundi was attended by minister
Sitta, Burundi’s minister for East African Cooperation Leontine
Nzeyimana and the DRC minister of Transport, Jack Lukeba.
“We also visited the Port of Kalindo on Lake
Tanganyika on the Burundi side because we want to improve the ports of
the lake,” said Mr Sitta.
Regarding air transport, Mr Sitta said Tanzania is
addressing the possibility of starting flights from Dar es Salaam to
Bujumbura.
‘Historic milestone’
Yesterday President Kenyatta launched what
analysts dubbed historic project, which is about the construction of
1250km at the cost of $5.2 billion that would extend across East Africa
to reach South Sudan, DR Congo and Burundi.
It is also hoped that the railway will reduce congestion in Mombasa, one of Africa’s busiest ports.
The current railway network dates back to the colonial era.
After the Nairobi section is finished, with completion due in
2017, it will be extended through Uganda, with branch lines west to
Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of Congo, south through Rwanda to
Burundi and north to South Sudan. Passenger trains will travel at a top
speed of 120 km/h (75 mph), while freight trains will have a maximum
speed of 80 km/h.
“What we are doing here today will most definitely
transform... not only Kenya but the whole of eastern African region,”
President Kenyatta told crowds at the ceremony, calling it an “historic
milestone”, the AFP news agency reports.
Additional report by Boniface Meena in Nairobi
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