Kenya and China have signed a US$ 5.4bn agreement that will see the construction of the Naivasha-Malaba Standard Gauge Railway line under the Kenya SGR Developments complete.
The signing of the agreement between Kenya and China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) reveals yet another important milestone regarding the Kenya – China cooperation for the mutual benefit of the two countries.
This initiative comes just after the Cabinet Secretary signed four commercial contracts between Kenya Railways and China Communications Construction Company which include; Naivasha- Kisumu, Kisumu-Malaba, Kisumu Port Development and Modernization and expansion of the Inland Container Depot at Embakasi in Nairobi.
At the moment, Kenya is constructing a Standard Gauge Railway between Mombasa and Malaba as part of the development for the East African Community protocol.
The development will hence connect the port of Mombasa to Kampala, Kigali and Juba.
The construction work is anticipated to be in operation by December 2018 and so far the first phase of the project from Mombasa to Nairobi is 75 percent complete and yet to be finalized in June 2017 while the second phase of the project from Nairobi to Naivasha is set to begin in June 2016. Phase 2 which is from Nairobi to Malaba has been divided into three sub-phases which are: Phase 2A Nairobi-Naivasha, Phase 2B Naivasha- Kisumu including the development of a new high capacity port at Kisumu and Phase 2C Kisumu-Malaba.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and President of the Peoples Republic of China, Xi Jinping held bilateral talks where they talked on the sidelines of the China Africa Forum (FOCAC) in Johannesburg South Africa in December 2015, the two Excellency’s re-established their commitment to enhance the cooperation between the two states for the mutual benefit of the citizens of the two countries.
