Finance Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich (Seated Right) with Chinese
Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng signing Standard Gauge Railways
constriction agreement at State House Nairobi on May 11, 2014. Five
presidents witnessed the signing. PHOTO/BILLY MUTAI
Kenya and China on Sunday signed an agreement on the financing of the first phase of the standard gauge railway project.
The
agreement was signed by Finance Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and his
Chinese counterpart Gao Hucheng in the presence of five heads of state.
President
Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang with
Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Salva
Kiir of South Sudan witnessed the signing in a ceremony at State House,
Nairobi which was the climax of Mr Li's three-day visit to Kenya.
The
SGR is expected to cost Sh327 billion for the 609.3 kilometre
Mombasa-Nairobi phase with China's Exim Bank funding 90 per cent of the
project while the other 10 per cent will be provided by the Kenya
government.
The standard gauge railway is aimed at
providing efficient and cost effective rail transport for both freight
and passengers. It is intended to reduce the cost of doing business by
reducing the cost of transport, a move that will see Kenya become a
competitive business hub for the East African region and beyond.
Passenger
trains will have a speed of 120 kilometers per hour while those for
freight will be designed to move at 80 kilometers per hour. It will take
passengers four hours and 30 minutes to travel from Mombasa to Nairobi
while freight will take eight hours. The project is slated to kick off
on October 1st and will take 42 months to complete.
Speaking
after the signing ceremony, President Kenyatta said Kenya “has found an
honourable partner in China”. He thanked the Chinese government and
leaders of the East African region for partnering with Kenya in
developing infrastructure.
President Kenyatta said Kenya would continue making development strides in partnership with dependable friends.
“We
have shown our ambition. We have rejected the mediocrity of simply
sticking with what we have. We have found partners of equal
determination. It now falls to us to complete the project as rapidly as
we know we can,” he said.
The Chinese Premier
emphasized that China’s engagement with Kenya and Africa as a whole was
based on a concept of mutual benefit.
He said closer
partnership between Africa and China with a combined population of more
than 2.4 billion people “can change the landscape of global
development”.
Mr Li said China’s partnership with
Africa was more than co-operation on single projects but was “a
communication linking the hearts and minds of people”.
He
called on all Chinese companies involved in the project to ensure they
supply the best equipment and adhere to all local laws, adding that the
Chinese firms will be required to transfer skills to local workers and
be meticulous in their roles.
President Museveni who
spoke on behalf of the visiting Heads of State spoke of China’s long
friendship with the people of Africa.
“China has stood
with the people of Africa since 1949 in the anti-colonial struggle. It
was only the Soviet Union and China who supported Africa when it was
colonized,” he said.
In what could be considered
criticism of Western nations, President Museveni said of China's
partnership with African countries: “China is concentrating on real
issues. They don’t give lectures on how to run local governments and
other issues I don’t want to mention.”
The agreements
for the construction and financing of the project were signed by
National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and the president of
China Exim Bank Li Ruogu.
OTHER AGREEMENTS
On
Saturday, the first agreement signed between Kenya and China was on
economic and technical cooperation approving grants of undisclosed
value.
Chinese Minister for Commerce Gao Hucheng and Cabinet Secretary Rotich signed the agreement on behalf of the two countries.
The
two further signed an agreement of undisclosed value of interest-free
loans to be offered to the Kenyan government by China and a framework
agreement on the provision of concessional loans.
Transport
Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau signed a memorandum of understanding on
aviation cooperation with his Chinese counterpart Gao Hucheng.
In
the Agriculture sector, Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei and the Chinese
Foreign Affairs minister Wang Yi signed an MoU on agricultural
cooperation with the financial interests undisclosed.
Other MoUs on health cooperation, forestry and ecological conservation, and establishment of a cultural centre were also signed.
Educational
issues which are part of Mr Li’s high-profile visit saw an MoU on the
establishment of an ultra-modern joint laboratory for crop molecular
biology signed which will cost Sh5.1 billion.
Also
signed was a concessional loan agreement on Nairobi’s 132 KV and 66 KV
network upgrade reinforcement phase II project which will see the
Chinese government provide support to increase electricity supply
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