By Jean-Pierre A.
President William Ruto and his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, met in Kisumu city, Western Kenya on Saturday to commission the long-delayed extension of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), a project expected to boost regional trade in East Africa amid concerns over its cost.
The two leaders presided over the launch of the next phase of the railway, which is expected to connect Kisumu to Malaba [a town on Uganda-Kenya border] and eventually link Kenya to Uganda and the wider East African region, reported Citizen Digital, a local media outlet in Kenya.
Speaking at the event, President Ruto recounted the historical significance of railway connectivity in shaping the region’s economic growth.
“It’s in moments like these that our nations are shaped. 130 years ago, the colonial administration had the Kenya-Uganda railway connecting the Indian Ocean to East Africa. The railway did more than move people and goods. Mombasa became the gateway of trade, Nairobi rose from a swampy town to a logistical hub because it sat close to the railway, and Machakos declined. Kisumu was a vital inland source linking rail and water,” Ruto was quoted as saying.
He added that the railway eventually became a continuous line reaching Kampala in 1931, spurring the growth of towns such as Eldoret in Kenya and Jinja in Uganda.
Ruto said the vision for regional connectivity has remained alive, tracing it back to a 2008 agreement between former President Mwai Kibaki and Museveni to establish a seamless railway system between Kenya and Uganda.
“This new line will connect agricultural hubs. We break ground today for 107km SGR from Kisumu to Malaba. It will serve Rwanda, Burundi, DRC and Central African Republic,” president Ruto was quoted as saying..
The Kenyan President noted that high logistics costs continue to undermine regional competitiveness, citing delays in cargo movement.
“We face a challenge of the economy not supporting a high population. High logistics for business don’t allow us to compete effectively. Cargo takes 100 hours to reach Kampala. We cannot build prosperity like this,” he said, adding that the Mombasa–Malaba corridor will spur the growth of industrial parks and special economic zones in areas such as Busia and Kisumu.
Museveni, according to Ruto, confirmed that Uganda had already awarded the Malaba–Kampala section, with plans to extend the line further to Kasese.
Present Musaveni said: “We’re going to push our section from Malaba to Kampala, then to Kasese and Mpondwe linking to the DRC. We are also working on the railway from Tororo to Gulu, then Nimule to Juba, as well as the line from Bihanga to Kigali.”
The SGR, built between 2013 and 2019, currently connects Mombasa to Nairobi and on to Naivasha. However, plans to extend it to Uganda stalled after China declined to offer additional financing, reported Citizen Digital.
Several countries in East and Central Africa region are landlocked, which hinders the trade, as the cost of transport from Indian Ocean makes most of the imported products very expensive.
