Preserving SGR will sustain benefits to Kenya and region

There is a need for a concerted, national effort to preserve the standard gauge railway (SGR), a valuable national asset that has brought great socio-economic benefits to Kenya.

Conceptualised by Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda as a solution to inefficiencies in the conveyance of goods from the Mombasa port to its hinterland and vice versa, the SGR is the biggest infrastructure project ever in the region.

On cargo transport, the SGR has materially delivered on the following fronts: speed of delivery, security, volumes, improved efficiency, reduced carbon footprint and preservation of our roads.

Since the launch on December 1, 2017, of the Madaraka Express Freight Service, the volume of cargo moved on the SGR has maintained an upward trajectory, sustained by a good working relationship between the SGR operator and the relevant State agencies like the Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Railways Corporation and Kenya Revenue Authority and other cargo intervenors.

The SGR operator moved 2,930,698 gross tonnes in 2018, which has since grown to 6,264,654 tonnes last year.

From January 2018 to May 2023, SGR moved 26,038,668 metric tonnes, comprising imports and exports.

It takes eight hours to move freight from Mombasa to Nairobi. Cargo being trans-shipped from the Naivasha Inland Container Deport (ICD)takes 10 hours to terminate in Kampala, providing seamless, end-to-end logistics for goods destined for Kigali, Bujumbura or Kisangani.

Transit cargo can be delivered to the ICD straight from the port. Hinterland countries — Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and beyond — can pick up and transport their cargo by road to their ultimate destinations.

Exports and empty containers can also be consolidated at Naivasha and ferried back to Mombasa for onward shipping.

A major socio-economic benefit of the SGR is the many direct and indirect jobs it has created — both during the construction of its two phases by the Chinese firms China Road and Bridge Corporation and China Communications Construction Company and in operations.

A new wave of urbanisation is sweeping through the SGR Corridor. Some 33 hitherto backwater towns are breathing again, thanks to their new status as SGR termini, basking in the demonstrable prospect of improved standards of living.

The writer is a commentator on railway transport and infrastructure development.