Murkomen praises EAC states for joint SGR expansion plan

Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen commended his East African Community counterparts for their commitment to the development of SGR.

In his remarks at the conclusion of Friday’s joint ministerial committee meeting, Murkomen said this would ensure the project is executed as planned.

The meeting called SGR Cluster was held in Mombasa and was attended by the respective ministers of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The SGR Cluster is one of the 14 Clusters of the Northern Corridor Integration Projects (NCIP).

In a joint statement signed by the leaders, the summit welcomed the ministers’ commitments to begin construction of Naivasha-Kisumu-Malaba, Malaba-Kampala and Kampala-Bihanga-Kasese-Mpondwe leading to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Others are Bihanga-Mirmama Hills against Mirama Hills to Kigali, Tororo-Gulu-Nimule leading to South Sudan and GuluPakwach-Vurra leading to DRC after securing funding for Malaba-Kampala SGR section.

The ministers also reaffirmed their commitment to accelerate the completion of construction of the remaining sections of the SGR from Naivasha in Kenya to Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and develop an implementation roadmap.

The meeting also provided a platform for leaders to review decisions from the Kampala ministerial meeting in May last year on the development of the SGR.

In a status report on the implementation of the 14th NCIP summit held in 2018, ministers heard that the Mombasa-Nairobi-Naivasha SGR section is fully operational and that Kenya and Uganda have completed the harmonization of technical specifications and standards for the SGR.

The leaders were informed that Uganda is in the final stages of negotiations with the proposed contractor, Yapi Merkezi, and that the contract will be signed by the end of May 2024.

It was also noted that partner states are pursuing resource mobilization and construction of the Naivasha-Kisumu-Malaba and Malaba-Kampala stretches is expected to begin before the end of 2024 after joint resource mobilization.

According to Murkomen, they further agreed to harmonize the planning and development of inland water transport infrastructure to provide seamless multimodal transport services and accelerate the review of the Tripartite Agreement on Water Transport in Lake Victoria.

He revealed that Kenya is looking to leverage private sector partnerships in the extension of the SGR line in an effort to ensure smooth cross-border movement of goods and people.

“This is in addition to the creation of special economic zones along the corridor that will transform areas with stopping stations into economic centers,” he said.