The Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) will soon start handling
conventional cargo after extension of the railway line to cover 10
berths at the Port of Mombasa.
SGR project manager,
Eng. Maxwell Mengich, said completion of the extension will make it
possible for cargo discharged from a ship to be loaded directly onto the
rail.
The extended line will be complete by August,
with Kenya Railways (KR) managing director Atanas Maina indicating that
construction work is more than 50 per cent complete.
“Its
completion expected in four months’ time. The bridge is intended to
connect SGR to berth number one to 10, which largely handles bulls and
other conventional cargo,” Mr Maina said.
Its completion will enable the freight train to handle
non-containerized (conventional) cargo such as fertilizers, grains and
steels among others.
Mr Maina said the SGR line is
currently connected to berths number 11 to 21, which mostly handle
containerised cargo discharged at the by a ship.
“We
are also targeting conventional cargo since we have wagons that can
handle this too. On the Nairobi side, such cargo will be handled at the
Nairobi Freight Terminal (NFT), which is next to the terminus,” he said
during an interview.
He said the reason for linking
all berth to the SGR line is to ensure efficiency at the port and
utilise effectiveness of the facility to generate more revenue.
Boost volumes
“It
will steer economic development for the country. The focus is to ensure
SGR can lift any type of cargo from the port in order to optimise on
its capacity and efficiency...It will be possible to handle many trains
in up and down direction,” Mr Maina said.
Mr Mengich reckons the move will also boost the volume of cargo transported via SGR.
“This
includes the conventional ones transported through the SGR.
Conventional cargo discharged at the Port of Mombasa will be transported
through the SGR after the 10 berths have been linked to SGR line,” he
said.
Tension
The
completion is also likely to heighten tension between the State and
industry players including truck transporters who rely on ferrying goods
from the port to countries including South Sudan, Uganda and DR Congo
for a living.
Even as the government tries to
facilitate easier movement of cargo by extending the line to cover all
berths, the move is likely to edge out trucks from the lucrative
container business.
Currently, the SGR mostly transports containerised cargo and not conventional.
The
extension is being undertaken by Chinese contractor China Road and
Bridge Corporation (CRBC), which is part of the Sh327 billion railway
project.
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