All transit cargo destined for Uganda, Rwanda, and South Sudan will be transported either on the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) for clearance at the Inland Container Depot in Naivasha or metre gauge to Tororo/Kampala effective June 1st.
Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development James Macharia says all transit cargo railed to Inland Container Depot (ICD) Naivasha will then be collected by trucks to the partner states via Busia or Malaba.
“The Nairobi – Naivasha SGR Project is part of the proposed Mombasa – Nairobi – Malaba /Kampala Standard Gauge Railway Project and therefore, the Mombasa – Naivasha SGR, which has overall length of 600 kilometre up to the Inland Container Depot at Naivasha will reduce the road distance to three Partner States of Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan by 600 kilometres, and will subsequently reduce interactions along the corridor and thus facilitate the containment of the Covid-19,” Macharia said on Friday.
Fuel products will be transported by pipeline to Kisumu and thereafter by lake Victoria to Port Bell or Jinja.
Macharia directed that all the transit cargo/containers transported on SGR will be armed only at ICD at Naivasha to be tracked through the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System, and all exports (both full and empty exports) not railed on metre gauge railway will be delivered to ICD for railage to the Port of Mombasa.
“The Heads of State, Their Excellencies President Paul Kagame of the Republic of Rwanda; President Uhuru Kenyatta of the Republic of Kenya; President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of the Republic of Uganda and President Salvar Maryardit Kiir of the Republic of South Sudan during their Consultative Meeting of the East African Community held by Video Conference on 12th May 2020 considered the current status of the outbreak of the Covid-19 Pandemic in the region and directed the Ministers responsible for Health, Transport, and EAC Affairs to adopt a Digital Surveillance and Tracking System for drivers and also as the Focal Persons to immediately work on a Regional mechanism for monitoring of truck drivers to reduce the impact of the Pandemic,” he said.
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