The move is aimed at facilitating easier movement of bulky and heavy goods such as clinker, steel, iron and cement into the SGR.
Chinese contractor China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) is set to extend the standard gauge railway (SGR) line deeper to cover its 10 berths at the Mombasa port.
The move is aimed at facilitating easier movement of bulky and heavy goods such as clinker, steel, iron and cement into the SGR.
The Kenya Port Authority have been offloading goods via cranes once they land at various berths at the Port of Mombasa and transporting them via trucks to the SGR line. “There are plans in place to extend the SGR to cover berth No 1 to berth No 10,” Transport secretary James Macharia told the Business Daily.
“We are extending the railway line along the 10 berths so that as ships arrive, you can have the cargo coming straight from the ship into the SGR train.”
Unlike the defunct Rift Valley Railways which used to charge between Sh670 and Sh145,000 per 20-foot container depending on the weight, CRBC is expected to ask for a uniform promotional charge of Sh50,000 per container.
The company will be assigned 40 per cent of Mombasa port’s yard cargo, a move which may edge out trucks out of the lucrative container business.
“Feasibility studies have been undertaken. This is part of the initial contract signed by the company to extend the railway line between Nairobi and Mombasa. It’s called the first mile connectivity which will take about six months to complete once works start,” he said.
China Road and Bridge Corporation, which constructed the 472-km Nairobi-Mombasa line, is building phase 2A of the 120km Nairobi Naivasha line at a cost of Sh150 billion.
Phase 2A of the SGR project will be followed by phase 2B that will extend the SGR to Kisumu at an estimated cost of Sh70 billion to be financed by Exim Bank of China.
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