Cabinet approves second phase of Standard Gauge Railway project

Engineers from China Roads and Bridges Coperation (CRBC) and some of the local engineers from the Kenya Railways go through their paces as the lay T-beams on the Standard Guage Railway (SGR) line at the Voi Super fly over wildlife corridor bridge, March 21, 2016. Laying of the rail track on the multi billion shilling high capacity SGR first phase transport system for both freight and passengers has so far covered over 180 kilometres with civil works of 75 per cent complete. The completion of the project line would be by June 2017. [PHOTO BY GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD].

The Cabinet has approved the second phase of the Mombasa-Kisumu Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project.

Following the approval, works for the development of the Naivasha-Kisumu phase will commence.

The project will be financed in a government-to-government arrangement. Signing of the commercial contract will be done by Kenya Railways Corporation and China Communications Construction.

In preparation for the anticipated increase in cargo volumes once the SGR project is complete, the Cabinet also approved the expansion of the Port of Kisumu.

During the meeting that was chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta, the third this year, members of Cabinet also agreed to modernise the Embakasi inland container depot.

Also approved was the development of access roads. This will be fast-tracked as part of the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR project. The funding will be provided by Kenya and China.

The state of the metre gauge railway line between Naivasha and Malaba was also discussed.

The Cabinet agreed that the line, which passes through Eldoret and Webuye, will also be refurbished.

This will be extended to all branches of the railway network in the country in order to boost railway connectivity.

The Cabinet also agreed to develop 10,000 kilometres of new roads in five years. This was after the passing of the Road Annuity Programme and an agreement to establish a Road Annuity Fund.