President Ruto reveals plan to extend SGR to Uganda and Congo

Kenya has begun talks with Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo to build a modern railway linking the Indian Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean, in what appears to be a race with Tanzania for control of the shipping business in remote parts of Africa.

President William Ruto revealed that the discussions are geared towards getting each of the four countries to build a 1,000-kilometre line in their territory.

Kenya’s leader said Uganda has made progress in laying the groundwork for a modern railway network on its soil, while Nairobi is in discussions with Kinshasa on options to secure funds for its division.

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It comes months after Tanzania reached an agreement with Chinese contractors to extend its standard gauge railway to Burundi, which will then continue to connect to the Democratic Republic of the Congo – the second largest country in Africa with a market of nearly 120 million people.

And as countries, we are willing to work together. That way, we can do our part in Kenya (while) Uganda is already working on theirs,” Dr Ruto told government and private sector leaders at a forum on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in Nairobi on Monday.

“We are (also) in discussion with the DRC government to find out how, together, we can obtain the resources necessary to get 1,000 kilometers in the DRC, connect it to the Congo River and transport our goods and products through remote regions of Africa.”

He said the talks also extended to Congo-Brazzaville.

Kenya has approximately 700 km of SGR line between Mombasa and Sosua near Naivasha, built by the Chinese at an estimated cost of $3.75 billion (Sh519 billion at the prevailing exchange rate).

The modern railway line from Nairobi was initially planned to reach the Ugandan border in the town of Malaba, but ended in the quiet Sosua district after China demanded that Kampala commit to building its section before Beijing released funding for the entire stage.

Uganda said earlier this month that it had secured funds for the SGR line from Standard Chartered Bank, with the project slated to be built by an undisclosed Turkish company.

Fred Byamukama, Uganda’s Minister of Works, was quoted by the press in Kampala as saying earlier in the month: “What I want to assure you is that by August, you will see the construction of a standard gauge railway on our land.”

Newer rail plans by Kenya and Tanzania aim to help them compete for shipping business from the Indian Ocean to remote regions at a time when the two countries are looking to remove trade barriers under the ambitious African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

Achieving free movement of people, goods and services on the continent under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement would create the world’s largest single market of about 1.4 billion people with an estimated economic output of more than $3 trillion (Sh415.2 trillion).

Tanzania and Burundi last month put out a tender to design and build some 282 kilometers as part of a modern, wider cross-border railway set to pass through the densely populated Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

This came months after Dar es Salaam signed a $2.2 billion (271 billion shillings) deal with Chinese contractors in late December, whereby the final section of the 2,102km railway line will be completed by 2026.

“This is a railway that will open up Tanzania and connect it to the eastern side of the Democratic Republic of the Congo where there are a lot of goods that have to be transported on the Indian Ocean ports to the world market,” Tanzanian President Samia Solohu said at her time.

Analysts believe that the vast and densely populated Democratic Republic of the Congo offers a huge untapped opportunity to access one of the world’s last economic frontier markets.

Rich in resources

The war-torn country has exceptional natural resources, including minerals such as cobalt and copper as well as hydropower potential, arable land and vast biodiversity and the second largest rainforest in the world.

Underdeveloped African transport networks have been blamed for increasing the cost of goods and services by as much as 40 percent, making intra-African trade uncompetitive compared to trade with developed continents such as Europe.

For example, the first shipment of value-added Kenyan tea to Ghana that left the country last October arrived at the port of Tema in February this year, underlining the infrastructural, security and tariff hurdles hampering intra-African trade.

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“This is why we must take barriers such as poor transport and logistics capacity, customs delays, rules of origin, import bans and export restrictions, quotas and duties, technical barriers, and import permits and licenses, very seriously because they ultimately reflect all of that,” said Dr. roto:

“They may seem small, incremental, but their total sum is a reflection of what we’re trying to achieve.”

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