- Kenya and Uganda have signed a deal on the financing and development of the Naivasha-Kisumu-Malaba and Malaba-Kampala SGR.
- Phase 2B of the SGR was initially set to pass through the counties of Narok, Bomet, Kericho to Kisumu.
Image: TWITTER
The government is set to put up a new dry port in Bungoma, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula has revealed.
Wetangula said he has agreed with President William Ruto to have the project undertaken to help facilitate the clearance of cargo and transportation of goods between the neighbouring countries.
“We have a 150-acre piece of land here owned by the Kenya Ports Authority and we are going to put up the dry port,” he said.
Speaking in Teso North on Saturday, Wetangula further promised to support the construction of a Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line from Bungoma to Malaba.
According to the Speaker, the railway line will be constructed as earlier designed.
The line, he said, will also extend to Iteso, with the aim of bolstering economic development in the area as well as create jobs for the youth.
“The previous administration altered the route such that it could not pass here but we have reversed it and so construction will now continue from Naivasha where it stopped to Malaba using the old design,” he said.
Phase 1 of the project which is 485km starts from Mombasa and ends in Nairobi cost Sh327 billion while phase 2A which is 120km extends from Nairobi to Naivasha cost Sh150 billion.
It was undertaken by China Road and Bridge Construction (CRBC).
Phase 2B of the project was designed such that it passes through the counties of Narok, Bomet, Kericho to Kisumu.
It entailed the construction of a port at Lake Victoria and set to Sh350 billion with majority of the funding coming from Exim bank of China.
Kenya and Uganda have already signed a deal on the financing and development of the Naivasha-Kisumu-Malaba and the Malaba-Kampala SGR.
The government plans to spend Sh2.1 trillion on the extension of the railway line from Suswa to Malaba and a separate line to Isiolo, projects expected to be completed in 2027.
According to the communiqué, the project will be implemented in their respective countries.
“The commercial contracts for Naivasha-Kisumu and Kisumu-Malaba SGR section in Kenya have been signed while the commercial contract for Malaba-Kampala SGR section in Uganda will be signed soon and the two governments are in the process of mobilising the financing for construction,” a joint statement by respective ministers read.
While Kenya has already signed commercial contracts for its portion of the SGR sections, Uganda is on track to soon finalise the contract for the Malaba-Kampala section.