President tells launch ceremony that railway line linking port city to neighbouring nations is a "historic milestone".
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| The new line, to be built with funds from China, will replace a dilapidated colonial-era railway [AFP] |
Kenya has launched a $13.8bn flagship railway project linking the
port city of Mombasa to the capital Nairobi and is eventually hoped to
extend onwards to neighbouring Uganda.
The project, called a "historic milestone" by President Uhuru
Kenyatta, who presided over a ground-breaking in Mombasa on Thursday,
will also connect with proposed lines to Rwanda and South Sudan,
according to the AFP news agency.
Built by a Chinese state-owned firm and with funds from the Chinese
government, the railway line is expected to dramatically increase trade
and boost Kenya's position as a regional economic powerhouse.
Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi form the the East African
Community, a regional bloc that the five nations have used to boost
economic integration.
"What we are doing here today will most definitely transform... not
only Kenya but the whole eastern African region," Kenyatta told crowds
at the ceremony, which was attended by Chinese officials.
"As a result east Africa will become a competitive investment destination. A busy growing east Africa is good for us a country."
The new railway line will replace the dilapidated British
colonial-era railway, and has been hailed by the Kenyan media as the
region's largest infrastructure project for a century.
"Kenya is stepping forward...it will be a landmark project both for
Kenya and east Africa," said Liu Guangyuan, China's ambassador to
Kenya.
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Cargo costs
Financing, currently only from China, has so far been made for only
the first 450km section from Mombasa to Nairobi, replacing the current
single trainline with a high-speed standard gauge track, as well as
building an additional line alongside.
Work on that section, by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), is expected to be completed by 2017.
CRBC completed in August the first-stage of an expansion to Mombasa's
port, including a berth able to handle 50,000 tonne container ships
According to plans, the new lines would see passenger journey times
cut from the current 12 hours to around four, which is around half the
current driving time on crowded and pot-holed roads.
Freight trains are planned to be able to cut the current 36-hour trip
by rail to just eight, a major boost for regional landlocked nations,
with planners claiming it will slash cargo transport costs by 60
percent.
Aljazeera
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