Sh 24.4bn to Refurbish Railway Network

Last Updated 15 years ago by Kenya Engineer

Rift Valley Railways (RVR) unveiled a Sh24.4 billion plan to refurbish the company’s infrastructure. The five year capital expenditure programme for the project will involve replacing 70km of the dilapidated tracks between Mombasa and Nairobi as it seeks to revamp operations and improve efficiency and cycle time. It will also rebuild nine culverts along the Tororo-Jinja section and purchase modern equipment to improve railway line maintenance from April this year.

“Top of our priority is refurbishing different sections of our permanent way along the Nairobi-Mombasa section and the replacement of the nine culverts between Tororo and Jinja,” said Brown Ondego, RVR Group chief executive in a press briefing in Nairobi.

RVR won a 25-year concession to run the railway in 2006 but has been hampered with shareholding and management wrangles for quite some time. This move is part of its efforts to increase tonnages moved by rail with an aim of preserving road infrastructure in the region while improving the competitiveness and service in the transport and logistics industry.

The rehabilitation of the railway line is vital following the opening up of East Africa via the LAPSSET transport corridor. According to analysts, the rehabilitation of the rail network is critical to expanding trade across the east African region.Mr Ondego said that besides the Kenya-Uganda railway line, the company was eyeing new opportunities in Rwanda, South Sudan, and eastern Congo. “We are focusing on improving what we have under our concession, but beyond that we are eyeing opportunities in the region,” he said.

The project is to be funded by a consortium of both local and international lenders. The loan agreement was signed as follows: International Finance Corporation ($22-million), the African Development Bank ($40-million), the German Development Agency ($32-million), the Dutch Development Bank ($20-million), the ICF Debt Pool ($20-million), the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries ($10-million), and Equity Bank ($20-million).

Other expenditure programmes of the project will include investment in information technology, a complete overhaul of 13 locomotives, increase in fleet capacity, improvement in the reliability of 26 locomotives on existing fleet and refurbishment and improvement in the capacity of 480 wagons including loading and offloading.

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