Speed up search for cash to finance standard gauge railway, urge states

Countries in East Africa have called for financing of a cross-border railway to be accelerated. A statement from State House, Nairobi Thursday said ministers from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan said money must be found quickly to meet all the timelines for the Standard Gauge Railway. “In their joint ministerial report, the ministers from the participating states said there was need to expedite financing from the People’s Republic of China and other sources to meet the October 2014 timelines to start work of all the sections,” read the statement. The five countries which form the Northern Corridor Integration Projects Summit met in Kigali, Rwanda yesterday for the sixth round of infrastructure talks. The summit, which was established in June last year, expanded its geographic scope as Ethiopia participated as an observer for the first time. Tanzania also has observer status. The meeting was attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir. During their last meeting in May, the countries vowed to jointly source financing for the railway with an eye on negotiating better terms. Kenya has already sourced financing for the Mombasa-Nairobi segment of the railway from China. Signed an agreement South Sudan Thursday signed an agreement to extend the railway to Juba while Uganda and Rwanda were asked to fast-track their preliminary engineering designs for the Kampala-Kigali segment. Engineers from the five countries will be seconded to Kenya to support the construction of the Mombasa-Nairobi segment of the railway. All segments of the railway are to be constructed simultaneously. During the summit, International Finance Corporation chief executive Jin-Yong Cai was expected to hold talks with heads of state in attendance. According to a report published by The East African in May, ministers from the region had indicated that they were in talks with the IFC for support on some of the infrastructure projects under development. The IFC confirmed the meeting in a statement but said no investment plans had been firmed up. Visa fee waiver “At this point, we are still to determine whether the IFC could play a role in any of the projects discussed at the summit. We will discuss further with the governments as the project planning progresses,” said the IFC in a statement. The summit also resolved to waive fees on the recently introduced East African Tourist Visa as Kenya attempts to boost its waning industry. The single visa is designed to give tourists coming to the region access to Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda at a reduced cost and with less bureaucracy. To further ease movement of people in the region, the countries have vowed to harmonise immigration laws by March 2015.