By Shem Oirere, International Railway Journal; January 31, 2019
THE value of current railway projects in East Africa has risen to more than $US 12.1bn as governments take advantage of funding offered by foreign investors to build new standard-gauge railways (SGR) rather than upgrading existing metre-gauge lines serving Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
The first two SGR lines financed and built by China have opened linking Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Djibouti, and more projects are in the pipeline in these countries as well as Tanzania and Uganda. However, rail freight’s share of the market remains below 5% across the region and there are concerns about the economic value of ongoing and recently completed projects.