President Uhuru Kenyatta launches SGR cargo train in Mombasa, May 30, 2017. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Summary
- Transport CS says a contractor will finance and upgrade the old railway line between Naivasha and Malaba to avoid borrowing a new loan
- The upgrade and construction of the connection is expected to start in the next three months.
- There has been concerns that the Mombasa to Naivasha SGR, which cost an estimated Sh477 billion, would not be economically viable if it is not connected to Kampala which is a major user of the Mombasa Port for its imports.
Private contractors will finance the upgrade of the old metre
gauge railway (MGR) between Naivasha and the Malaba border and also+
build a new line connecting to the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) at a
total estimated cost of Sh21 billion, Transport Secretary James Macharia
has said.
The public-private-partnership contract will
help the government to avoid borrowing more loans while ensuring that
there is a reliable railway connection between Naivasha and the Ugandan
border for onward connection to Kampala.
Kenya dropped
its bid to extend the SGR to Kisumu and later on to the Ugandan border
after failing to secure a multi-billion-shilling loan from China, which
funded the first and second phases of the new railway line.
Mr Macharia Wednesday said the government’s priority now is to
upgrade the old metre gauge railway and connect it to the SGR through
construction of a new road and rail link from Maai Mahiu to the Naivasha
MGR station.
Upgrading the old
Naivasha-Nakuru-Eldoret-Malaba line will cost an estimated Sh15 billion
($150 million) while building of the Mai Mahiu connection will cost
about Sh6 billion ($60 million).
The upgrade and construction of the connection is expected to start in the next three months.
Private sector
“Private
sector would be much faster because you know it is the financing
agreements that take longer but if you have ready funding from the
private sector then we just engage them within our existing Public
Private Partnership arrangements. We concluded the deal for the
expressway from Mombasa in two months so it is possible,” said Mr
Macharia Wednesday.
Transporters will truck cargo through the Maai Mahiu–Narok road
to the Naivasha MGR station before completion of the 43-kilometre
railway line between the old and the new railway stations.
The
upgrade and construction of the connection is expected to start by
about August, in time for the planned launch of the Nairobi-Naivasha SGR
line.
Mr Macharia made the announcement yesterday
after hosting a delegation from Uganda led by the minister for Works and
Transport, Monica Azuba.
There has been concerns that
the Mombasa to Naivasha SGR, which cost an estimated Sh477 billion,
would not be economically viable if it is not connected to Kampala which
is a major user of the Mombasa Port for its imports.
Uganda team
The
Ugandan team whose trip is a follow up to the March 2019 visit by
President Yoweri Museveni – during which the SGR talks took centre-stage
-- expressed concern over a possible rise in transport costs should the
trucking between the two railways lines last for long.
“There
is that gap but I hope we will work out modalities to see that our
transporters would not get disadvantaged both in terms of cost and time
in trans-shipping between the metre gauge railway so that it is a
win-win situation for both of us,” said Ms Azuba.
Mr
Macharia later told the Business Daily that the link to the MGR will
result in time savings for Uganda-bound cargo, hence will compensate for
any cost increases that may result from the trucking.
He
said the government will engage Uganda to address possible cost
implications by offering discounts should there be need to do so.
The
Narok road will also have to be upgraded to allow for the many trucks
between the old and the new railway, pending construction of the new
railway link which is expected to take more than one year.
The
CS who last week said both the Nakuru–Malaba and Nakuru-Kisumu MGR
lines would be revamped, Wednesday said upgrade of the old Kisumu line
may not be viable after all.
Several bridges
According
to him, the line has ‘several bridges that are vandalised’ and may turn
out to be a costly affair considering that the government still has
plans to complete the SGR line to Kisumu where the port is to be also
upgraded.
Uganda is also said to be working on the
reconstruction of the Metre Gauge Railway line from Malaba to Kampala
with funding from the European Union.
The upgrades for the two lines, Malaba-Kampala and Tororo-Gulu, will cost the country some Sh18 billion.
Kenya
already offered to give Uganda land to construct an inland depot in
Naivasha, a key mission for the delegation currently visiting the
country.
The renewed focus on the metre gauge railway
line now dims hopes for the fast-tracking of the Chinese-funded SGR
which was expected to reach Kisumu by 2022 and link to a sea port for
shipping of cargo to Uganda.
Focus on private sector
funding by the government presents a shift on mega infrastructure
funding which has been blamed for the ballooning debt pile for Kenya.
Last
month, a Kenyan delegation in Beijing attending the Belt and Road Forum
returned empty-handed after it emerged that plans to secure the
billions needed to complete the SGR to Kisumu had hit a deadloc
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