SGR on course as Exim Bank officials jet in to appraise the project

Eng. Kasingye Kyamugambi

TRANSPORT

The SGR project is making considerable progress. A consulting team from the Exim Bank of China is currently appraising the project. This is normal practice for all such mega projects as they near conclusion of financing.

It is the same bank that is financing SGR in Kenya. As they appraise Uganda's SGR, it is important that Ugandans understand that SGR will help in transforming the economy as per the aspirations enshrined in Uganda Vision 2040.

The Heads of State directed the countries of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan to develop the SGR as per the NCIP SGR Protocol. The objective is to develop and operate a modern, fast, reliable and high capacity railway transport system that will provide a globally competitive quality service thus raising regional competitiveness.

The aspirations of the Heads of State is that railway transport quality of service is at global levels thus attracting FDI which will industrialise the region raising people's income and reducing unemployment. Global competitiveness requires that if the transport tariff in India or China is about 3-5 US cents per tonne KM, even in East Africa, it should be at such level. Transport affects productivity of the economy. In order to comply with the directive, the approved standards and specifications for Uganda and Kenya will provide quality service in terms of speed, time of travel efficiency of operation, comfort, safety, cost effectiveness and connectivity.

In railways, the safety is measured by the number of accidents per one million train kilometer. The safety of SGR in Uganda will be 0.06 accidents per one million train kilometers (probably one accident per 16.7 million train kilometers). These are extremely high safety levels when compared to Europe where the average is 0.5 accidents per one million train kilometre (one accident per two million train kilometres and the average in the America's is 1.67 accidents per one million train kilometer (one accident per 0.6 million train kilometre).

To achieve this safety measure, SGR is designed to avoid any level crossings (road and rail crossing each other like at Access Road near Mukwano in Kampala), the embankments will be raised at a minimum of 2.5m above the ground and the railway will be fenced all the way from Malaba to Kampala. The design provides for sufficient community crossings and underpasses so that the communities along the railway will not be inconvenienced. It should be noted that each train that derails can cost over $20m. This excludes the reputation and damage to the track. Each train is expected to carry 4,000 tonnes of cargo (four million kilogrammes). Capacity and safety is a huge boost to businesses.

To ensure that the railway system is very cost effective, the SGR puts emphasis on low maintenance costs and low life cycle costs. In railway infrastructure, it is important to compare life cycle costs not investment costs. Railway systems usually don't provide good services if not well maintained.

The maintenance costs of the China Class One SGR is estimated at $41,000 per KM per year in comparison to the earlier study carried out by the ministry based on American standards (AREMA) that gave estimates of $147,000 per year which is nearly three times. In railways, the tariff is mainly dependent on the maintenance requirements.

Therefore, the lower the maintenance, the lower the tariff. It is important to note that Kenya has already set the tariff on the Mombasa- Nairobi SGR at 5 US cents per tonne KM. Similarly, on life cycle costs, which are a combination of investment and maintenance costs over the period of 30 years, the Uganda SGR is estimated at $2.7b while other earlier studies based on AREMA provided an estimate of US$4.04b.

The time of travel from Mombasa to Kampala will reduce from 14 days by train or 4-7 days by road to one day by SGR. Similarly the operations will be very efficient since the design system has automatic signaling. In the region, it is only Kenya that has developed SGR to China Class One standard and will have similar operating efficiencies like Uganda's SGR. Other countries opted for other systems depending on their economic outlook and the optimisation of investment and life cycle costs.

Therefore, comparisons of the Ugandan system can only be made with Kenya. Any comparison with other countries that are not on similar standards and specifications is not technically sound. Uganda is building a railway system that will provide a globally competitive transport service as this would help us attract the much required foreign direct investments, especially in industries whose products are in the key global value chain.

The writer is the project coordinator of the Standard Gauge Railway Uganda