Ksh1.17trillion rail to link Mombasa to Kigali

Last Updated 13 years ago by Kenya Engineer

By Daisy Gakuu

Kenya’s railway vicinity is bound to enlarge with the construction of a new Mombasa-Kampala-Kigali Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line. The $1.35 billion (Ksh1.17trillion) project is said to cover around 2937km and is set to run from the port of Mombasa through Kampala to Kigali.

According to the Minister for Privatization in Uganda, Aston Kajara, $11.5billion will cater for the infrastructure and the remaining $2billion resource the rolling stocks. This project will be taken as a block by three states (Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda) but each state will take up the burden of repayment.

The rail project entails: a 1,185km line from the port of Mombasa to Nairobi linking Malaba and branching to Kisumu; over 1,399km from Malaba to Kampala with four branches to different towns in Uganda which then connects to the main line linking to Rwanda through Mirima Hills; a 200 km line from Mirima Hills to Kigali and an additional 150km rail to other towns in Rwanda.

The SGR is expected to move over 28 metric tonnes of cargo to rival the current railway line which allows a maximum capacity of 5metric tonnes. At present as noted by the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure, Engineer Michael Kamau, cargo from the port of Mombasa getting in into neighbouring countries is on the increase.

“It’s about 23million tonnes per annum and growing at a rate of 10 percent,” said Eng. Kamau.
With this in mind, Professor Silas Lwakabamba, the Minister for Infrastructure in Rwanda, says they’re fully on board and are looking forward to the project.

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