A new railway line is welcome news
Jan 07, 2009
Kenya and Uganda have announced new plans to build another railway line from Mombasa to the interior to cope with increased regional trade.
Kenya and Uganda have announced new plans to build another railway line from Mombasa to the interior to cope with increased regional trade.
The line, which will be commissioned in 2017, will extend to Rwanda, Ethiopia, southern Sudan and Burundi.
The new railway will also have a wider gauge that will allow greater volumes to be transported. Currently the railway only carries less than 6% of all cargo to Kampala.
The development of a new railway is long overdue for this region. The current railway line while a marvel of colonial technology, was built at the turn of the 20th century and has long outlived its usefulness.
We are a landlocked country and the relatively higher cost of transport is always going to work against our businessmen and industries.
For us to claim a more relevant part on the world stage the development of the railway and the undersea optic fibre are critical in lowering business costs and making the region a more attractive investment destination.
Our relatively high costs of transport are a major reason why all we will get from the most credible of investors is the sound of one-handed clapping.
The increasing ease with which capital moves around the world means we do not have the luxury of complacency. If as a country we cannot provide the basics, investors — both local and foreign — will move on to other countries.
Capital is fickle, it shifts to areas of higher return.
The Government needs to realise it has wasted too much time, time we will never recover, but we should commit to stopping the laxity.
Transportation is a basic necessity and government should be planning to shore up our water and air transport as well as grappling with the inadequacies of our rail and road networks if it is serious about taking us to the next level of development in the foreseeable future.
The line, which will be commissioned in 2017, will extend to Rwanda, Ethiopia, southern Sudan and Burundi.
The new railway will also have a wider gauge that will allow greater volumes to be transported. Currently the railway only carries less than 6% of all cargo to Kampala.
The development of a new railway is long overdue for this region. The current railway line while a marvel of colonial technology, was built at the turn of the 20th century and has long outlived its usefulness.
We are a landlocked country and the relatively higher cost of transport is always going to work against our businessmen and industries.
For us to claim a more relevant part on the world stage the development of the railway and the undersea optic fibre are critical in lowering business costs and making the region a more attractive investment destination.
Our relatively high costs of transport are a major reason why all we will get from the most credible of investors is the sound of one-handed clapping.
The increasing ease with which capital moves around the world means we do not have the luxury of complacency. If as a country we cannot provide the basics, investors — both local and foreign — will move on to other countries.
Capital is fickle, it shifts to areas of higher return.
The Government needs to realise it has wasted too much time, time we will never recover, but we should commit to stopping the laxity.
Transportation is a basic necessity and government should be planning to shore up our water and air transport as well as grappling with the inadequacies of our rail and road networks if it is serious about taking us to the next level of development in the foreseeable future.