China signs US$3.8b african rail deal
Print Edition
CHINA is to build a US$3.8 billion rail link between Kenya’s Indian Ocean port of Mombasa and Nairobi, the first stage of a line that will eventually link Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
Under the terms of an agreement signed yesterday, Exim Bank of China will provide 90 percent of the cost to replace the crumbling British colonial-era line with a 609.3 kilometer standard-gauge link and Kenya the remaining 10 percent.
Construction is due to start in October and take three-and-a-half years to complete.
Once the Mombasa-Nairobi line is completed, construction would begin to link east Africa’s largest economy with Kampala, Kigali, Bujumbura and Juba.
The deal was signed in Nairobi on the last stage of a four-nation African tour by Premier Li Keqiang and witnessed by presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Salva Kiir of South Sudan.
“This project demonstrates that there is equal cooperation and mutual benefit between China and the East African countries, and the railway is a very important part of transport infrastructure development,” the Chinese premier said.
“The costs of moving our people and our goods across our borders will fall sharply,” Kenyatta said at a joint news conference yesterday.
The existing narrow gauge railway in Kenya was built in the 19th century and only runs to Uganda whereas the faster new line is designed to go on to Rwanda and South Sudan and is aimed at cutting trade costs between East African nations.
Kenyatta previously said the new railway would cut freight costs by more than half. Journey times would also be shortened.
China Road and Bridge Corporation, a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company, is to construct the initial Kenyan leg of the new line.
Premier Li told the news conference yesterday that the rail construction company would ensure African workers were trained and laws adhered to.
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