Ambassador Herbert Kiguli says Ugandan traders will prefer using the Kenyan port KPA's general manager finance and commercial services Geoffrey Kavate with the Consul General of Uganda to Mombasa Amb. Herbert Kivuli during the envoy's courtesy call on KPA CEO Captain William Ruto/ HANDOUT The Kenya–Uganda Standard Gauge Railway will significantly increase cargo volumes destined for the landlocked country through the Port of Mombasa, Uganda's Consul General to Mombasa, Ambassador Herbert Kiguli, has said.
This will see Ugandan traders increasingly prefer using Mombasa for cargo clearance, as the railway connection is expected to reduce transit time and freight costs between the two countries, while strengthening regional trade within the East African Community (EAC).
Uganda is constructing its 273 km Malaba-Kampala Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to link with the Kenyan border. The €2.7 billion (Sh 397.1 billion) railway is being developed by Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi and is projected to conclude by 2028, cutting travel time and drastically lowering freight.
President William Ruto in March this year broke ground for the construction of the Naivasha-Kisumu-Malaba SGR project at the Narok Training Teachers College Grounds. The 475 km railway network being constructed by China Communications Construction Company is expected to be completed by June 2027 at an estimated cost of Sh645 billion.
While Ambassador Kiguli noted that the railway project forms part of broader regional transport infrastructure initiatives, aimed at enhancing connectivity and facilitating trade among EAC member states, it is expected to give Mombasa an edge over Dar es Salaam.
The envoy made the remarks during a courtesy call on Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) CEO Captain William Ruto on Wedensday. Kenya is reported to be losing between five to eight per cent of high-value transit cargo annually, according to the State Department of East African Community.
This is on inefficiencies along the Northern Corridor mainly non-tariff barriers, which are driving cargo diversion to Dar es Salaam.