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New railway to link Ethiopia, Kenya, S.Sudan

By Groum Abate
East Africa is making a big leap in infrastructure development with the roll-out of a plan to build 15 new railway lines connecting at least seven countries including Ethiopia.

Addis Ababa will be linked with a new standard gauge (SG) railway line with coastal town of Lamu, Kenya and Juba, Southern Sudan.

The railway first line will connect the Kenyan northern border town of Garissa with Addis Ababa while the other will connect another Kenyan coastal town Lamu to Juba through Garissa. East African Community officials said that their governments are committed to the project because of its potential to spur trade with the region.

The project is expected to be operational in 12 years time.

According to the master plan that was presented at a recent East African Regional Economic Summit held in Rwanda and that also seeks to rope in Ethiopia and Southern Sudan, Tanzania will be the largest beneficiary of the deal. It will get eight SG lines to link it with neighboring Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

Implementation of the plan, which was the subject of a recent East African Community investment summit in Rwanda, is expected to begin with the formation of a regional consultative group to drive the construction work. The group to operate as an independent unit of the EAC secretariat will coordinate the project that is expected to facilitate trade in the region.

EAC member states are, however, required to form consultative groups to conduct route surveys and establish the amount of money required to build new lines within their territories. Feasibility studies for the new railway lines have been done and the results handed over to member states for evaluation.

According to the Daily Nation, in Kenya and Uganda, the initiative will culminate into a parallel railway line to the current one that is being run by a consortium of private investors led by South Africa’s Sheltam Corporation.

The consortium, which is operating under the Rift Valley Railways trade mark, has recently come under pressure for failing to improve the quality of services in the 100 year-old railway line that runs from the port of Mombasa to the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

Though Uganda is set to get just four new lines under the deal, analysts said it will get the best level of connectivity because the proposed lines will pass through key economic regions.

The available railway lines being used in the region had become obsolete resulting in high operation costs and minimal returns for the business community because of their outdated meter gauges that are not standard.

It is estimated that it will require at least 180 million dollars to restore the region’s railway performance to where it was 20 years ago.

Apart from the EAC states, Nigeria and South Africa are also stepping up efforts to adopt SG type of railway lines. The West African nation plans to construct a new 8,000 kilometre SG line while South Africa proposes a similar high-speed line between Johannesburg and Pretoria. Click HERE to go to the source of this article.