Rank: Elder Joined: 7/28/2015 Posts: 9,562 Location: Rodi Kopany, Homa Bay
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aemathenge wrote:Quote:To simply put it, the SGR is just a zombie project heavily consuming resources which in this case is heavy sovereign debt when its economic case is yet to be clearly defined for more than five years now. Source Link: The Business Daily Stupid article. Note that soon all containers headed west of nairobi and to uganda, rwanda, DRC, south sudan will be collected at mai mahiu inland container depot. This will unclog the mai mahiu road and other roads making our roads safer and reducing road maintenance. Also note that the nrb - mbs sgr started with passengers before adding cargo. So just be patient, the govt plans far ahead, it's not shortsighted as many wazuans and half-baked chonolists. Right now you should be busy buying burotis in mai mahiu and suswa, like me and @mugundaman, and not complaining endlessly on wazua. https://www.theeastafric...7294-np52r9z/index.html
Quote:Beginning January 2020, import cargo destined for Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and DRC through Mombasa port will be offloaded at the Mai Mahiu Standard Gauge Railway station for onward transmission.
Kenya Railways acting managing director Phillip Mainga on Thursday told The EastAfrican that a $65.7 million inland container depot will be built at Mai Mahiu in the next three months, marking a potentially major coup for Kenya’s ambition of becoming the transport corridor of choice for neighbouring countries.
President Uhuru Kenyatta this week commissioned Phase 2A of the SGR, but the lack of an ICD means only a passenger train will ply the route until December.
“Our priority now is the ICD which we hope to complete in three months. The contractor is already on the ground,” said Mr Mainga.
The government has allocated Ksh6.9 billion ($65.7 million) for construction of the ICD and related facilities to enable seamless transportation of cargo destined for neighbouring countries, including parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In Suswa, KR intends to build freight handling facilities specifically targeting to transport cargo including wheat, maize, tea and animals destined for other parts of the country and for export.
The SGR freight service generated of Ksh5.7 billion ($54.3 million) last year, while the passenger service generated Ksh1.6 billion ($15.2 million).
An estimated 30 per cent of all cargo coming through Mombasa Port is designed for neighbouring countries.
Kenya Railways has opted to prioritise the construction of a 7km road connecting the ICD to the Mai Mahiu-Narok road to facilitate cargo transportation via road.
For rail cargo, they are setting up a trans-shipment hub at Longonot to be used to load cargo on the old meter gauge railway (MGR) for shipment to neighbouring countries.
According to Mr Mainga, the SGR freight service will take 10 hours from Mombasa to Suswa and will target to transport two million tonnes of cargo annually.
The SGR is currently transporting six million tonnes of cargo from Mombasa to Nairobi using 14 daily trains. Cargo transported by SGR account for 37 per cent of all goods entering the Mombasa Port.
“We will start with two freight trains on the Nairobi-Naivasha line and increase the trains depending on demand,” he noted.
He added the line will significantly reduce the number of trucks on the busy Kamandura—Mai Mahiu—Narok road and cut the number of hours it takes to transport cargo via road from Mombasa to Kampala from 36 to 24.
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