Tanzania signals major progress on railway project connecting to Rwanda
May 24, 2020
By Melodie Mukansonera
Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has announced that works on the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) which will run from Dar es Salaam through Kigali to DR Congo, are on track and that his country is doing everything possible to ensure the smooth completion of the project.
He made the remarks after inspecting works on the first phase of the project that runs from the Tanzanian commercial capital Dar es Salaam to Morogoro. The second phase runs from Morogoro-Makutupora, and then from there it will run to Makutupora-Isaka before reaching Kigali.
The 2,561 km SGR line is estimated to cost 14.2bn US dollars and part of the Central Corridor projects.
Last year, Rwanda approved the law ratifying the agreement on the Isaka-Kigali Standard Gauge Railway Project. This meant that Rwanda is ready to implement everything that is on paper. The railway is expected to ease Rwanda’s access to the port after Uganda worked against the Northern Corridor SRG route which was to link Kigali to the port of Mombasa through Kampala.
The project had been agreed upon between Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya but Uganda suddenly changed tact, and instead said they will build the railway towards their border with South Sudan, rather than Rwanda.
Meanwhile, Kenya’s plans to extend the railway to Malaba (their border with Uganda) were brought to a stand still after Uganda announced that they were reviving their meter gauge line instead of the SRG. Kenya had already started works on the SGR, but President Museveni’s announcement during his State of Nation address last year left Kenya with no choice but to revamp its section of the meter gauge railway to Naivasha Dry Port.
According to observers, the move by Uganda left the East African dream of achieving a seamless Northern Corridor transport network in a state of limbo. For Rwanda the option was to bank on the Central Corridor of which Kigali moved swiftly to tap into.
Rwanda will however still benefit from the railway project after the country acquired a dry port in Naivasha, Kenya, as announced last week by Foreign Affairs Minister Vincent Biruta.
According to Biruta, Rwanda-bound commodities will be transported by SGR to Naivasha where they will be picked by trucks before heading to Rwanda. Biruta said that Rwanda’s wish is to have seamless access to both the Northern and Central Corridor.
Tanzania signals major progress on railway project connecting to Rwanda
Yani hadi sasa bado mnatumia picha za SGR kenya kuongelea kuhusu SGR Tanzania, Kwani hamjui kupiga picha au nini?
Anyway, Juzi nimeshanganzwa niliposoma eti Rwanda watanunua shamba pale karibu na Naivasha Dry Port inakuaje bado Rwanda inawekeza kwenye alternative routes to the sea wakati hata hawajaanza ujenzi wa SGR kwenda Dar? Kwani hawatarajii kupokea mizigo yote kupitia hio SGR? haswa vile nchi yao ni ndogo kwahivyo mizigo yote ukijumlisha imports na export haifiki hata 4 Million tonnes (Na kumbuka mizigo miengine kati ya hio 4Million hupelekwa na ndege).
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Rwanda secures dry port in Kenya’s Naivasha town
Published : May 16, 2020 | Updated : May 16, 2020
Rwanda has secured a dry port in the Kenyan town of Naivasha which could ease the country’s access to the port of Mombasa for exports and imports.
The dry port which is located about 560km from the Port of Mombasa will among other things reduce the journey freight trucks have to take for outbound exports and inbound imports.
Goods will be ferried to and from the inland port to Mombasa via rail which is cheaper and faster compared to road transport.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Vincent Biruta said that the dry port will allow imports to be received in Naivasha as opposed to Mombasa which will reduce the distance covered by road for goods destined to Rwanda or exported from Rwanda as well as costs of logistics.
Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Kenya, Richard Masozera this week visited the dry port at Naivasha Inland Container Depot (ICD).
So far, Biruta said that the government is in consultation with the private sector to establish ways to make the most of the dry port.
There are also discussion on how the country can use Lake Victoria to transport the goods up to Port Bell in Kampala which would further reduce the cost of transport.
The development could to an extent reduce the cost of imports in the country through Mombasa as well as competitiveness of Rwanda’s exports as operational costs go down.
This will complement the Dar es Salaam route through the Central Corridor where a significant volume of cargo goes through.
As of 2018, unofficial estimates put the cost of shipping a six-metre-long container from Shanghai China to Mombasa at between US$500 to US$1000, a distance of about 10,000 kilometres while the transport costs for the same container from Mombasa to Kigali are estimated up to US$4000, a distance of about 1400km by road in about two days.
Reduction of the 1400km distance by road will to a great extent reduce the cost of goods and consequently competitiveness.
With a significant volume of imports is capital and intermediary goods, the development could further mean that reduced cost of projects in Rwanda.
Manasseh Nshuti the Minister in charge of East African Community (EAC) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said that as a landlocked country, it is important to find solutions to access ports.
“Naivasha to Mombasa is 560km. Goods will use rail reducing road transport which is more expensive and time consuming. Naivasha to Kigali will be shorter. We also have two options, Naivasha to Kigali by road or we can use Naivasha to Kisumu via road which is about 200km, then barges from Kisumu to Port Bell in Uganda. By sea it will be cheaper,” Nshuti said.
cmwai@newtimesrwanda.com
Rwanda secures dry port in Kenya’s Naivasha town