"Since August, the transit time for containers from Mombasa to Kampala and Kigali has dropped from 18 days to five and from 22 days to eight respectively. This is expected to fall further.

The cost of transporting a 20-foot container from Mombasa to Kigali is also expected to drop from $383 to $193, resulting in savings of about $45 million annually.

Also, since all the revenues will be collected at the port of entry, the cost of clearing imported goods and transporting them around the region is also expected to come down.

It is estimated that over 200,000 containers destined for Rwanda and Uganda are cleared annually at the port of Mombasa."

How now?
Where do our journalists get there figures from?
Was there a time a container would take 18days after the Nairobi - Nakuru - Eldoret road was recarpeted?

383$ is equivalent to 33,000 Kes, a 20ft container from Msa to Kigali now? That figure wouldn't get you a similar container from Msa to Nairobi.

200,000 containers destined for Rwanda and Uganda annually? Seriously? 547 containers a day?


Idiotic journalism

They have Keters in Uganda too http://www.theeastafrica...8/-/syfw03z/-/index.html

Uhuruto government needs to relook the railway project critically. It costs much higher than the Nigerian, Ghanaian, Southafrican and Ethiopian rails.
They need to have local kenyan engineers and economists do a feasibility study so that we can all understand the logic behind these high costs. Eng. Kamau and Nduva Muli's explanations to not hold water.


http://www.a4architect.c...hipoia-vs-nigeria-costs/

SGR is long overdue.It will give Kenya a competitive edge as a choice route to Africa's hinterland.Looking at it from a different perspective, once complete, SGR will make it possible for K'ogalo hooligans to depart Nairobi at 8AM on a random Saturday morning and make it for a game against Bandari at 3PM and be back in Nairobi at 11PM. A Ugandan businessman/woman will be able to leave Kampala at 7am and be in Mombasa by 2PM etc. Other CoW(Coalition of the Willing) partners will incur bigger cost to implement SGR for shorter distances as compared to KE. Kenyans should view this project as something of a necessity rather than a luxury if at all we need to maintain the position of East Africa economic powerhouse. Afterall its not only Kenya which has a coastline and has the advantage of bordering landlocked countries. As UK put it in the recent press conference, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda SGR constitutes 20% of China's funding in whole wide Africa, signifying that this is no child's play. Business is all about shrewdness and undercutting your competitors. It is good to note that once Uganda starts producing crude, its GDP will shoot to 50b US dollars. This will be almost double that of Kenya's current GDP of 32 billion US dollars. Tanzania is building a major port at Bagamoyo which has the potential of rendering Mombasa irrelevant. There is also talk of SGR linking its 5 landlocked neighbours, two of them sleeping giants (Zambia & DR Congo). It also has natural gas in which they want to use for electricity production. Barrack Obama was there last year to talk about electricity and gas. China's president was also there to speak about the same and the Bagamoyo port....its all business.....ukisleki utachengwa

This railway line should be double track for efficiency and safety. If no,t the tunnels and bridges they will construct should be made in a way that they will be able to accommodate another track in the near future. The SGR is desperately needed but it will be useless for the trains to stop more than ten times just to give way

I don't think anyone is against SGR, let's just make sure we're paying reasonable price for it. It's an expansive investment so it's ok to pay close attention to everything.

The SGR project is good for the economy. The problem is simple. No government or any individual anywhere in the world ever asks the suppliers to do their own feasibility study, give their own quote and get awarded the contract. Its simply illogical especially when we compare the costs to similar projects in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Ethipoia and Kenyas cost seems more than double this.

http://www.a4architect.c...ipoia-vs-nigeria-costs/

What i would like to see Uhuruto Govt do is simply give us the feasibility report then let us make our independent judgement as to why the costs are higher. Maybe they have valid points and maybe they dont. All we want is technical info. Without technical info, all we can do is compare the kenyan SGR to others in the region.

Its generally accepted that the cost of sgr anywhere in the world is in the range of at least over kes 150m per km. The kenyan costs are much higher than the generally accepted range. Personally, i would like to know in detail why the cost is this high, not the shallow expalanations given by Eng. Kamau and Nduva Muli. Eg. when he says some part passing through tsavo is elevated, i would like toknow exactly how many km. When he says some parts have bridges, i would like to know how many bridges. When he says some land will be acquired, i would like to read the feasibility report that analysed that the rail cant pass through already gazeted railway reserve and if excavations plus bridges are to be constructed along the existing line, their number ,cost compared to cost of acquiring new land etc etc.

This guy is suggesting we borrow from the same guys who even do not approve of the railway.. I am not disputing what they have done in terms of development but sometime if you let them have their way you will take 50 years to do so.. In that 50 years time, we should not be talking about SGR but should be doing bullet trains..

In my opinion the economic benefit out-way any hindrance and argument everyone is trying to point out.

So many what ifs' "What if the Chinese make good their plan and build the mother of all ports in Bagamoyo? What if the cargo doesnt increase?" arguments that any economist has to think about, but does that qualify to be an argument to hang on to an archaic rail? Why should we wait for the Bagamoyo port to be realized instead of making the port irrelevant before its construction begins?

He makes alot of sense in his Lappset argument, a project he helped conceptualize, which is as important as the northern corridor, but neglecting Msa for Lamu will drive our neighbor customers to the port at Dar so fast. Anyway....the WB would NOT give us that money he quotes there because they already said they dont see the need of the rail.

Ndii's theory if applied may result in the same loop-sided one area{Central Province} concentration of infrastructure that Kenya needs to avoid ...clearly Lappset will open up other regions ..the current gavanas of the counties from Thika to Nanyuki can work on the existing rail Land(tracts if they still exist)for light train et al..from Thika to Nanyuki independent of Lappset awashane na Lappset kapsaaa