Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda have agreed to start construction of the Mombasa-Kampala-Kigali standard gauge railway line in November to link the three East African countries.


The Ksh1.17 trillion (US$ 13.3billion) project will run from the Kenyan port of Mombasa through Kampala

in Uganda to Kigali in Rwanda, a distance of about 2,935km.

The Mombasa-Kampala-Kigali railway project entails a 1,185km rail from Mombasa through Nairobi to Malaba and branching to Kisumu; a 1,400km rail from Malaba to Kampala and branching to four Ugandan towns before connecting to the main line to Rwanda at Mirima Hills; a 200km rail from Mirima Hills to Kigali and an extra 150km rail to other towns in Rwanda.

Although the project will be undertaken by the three countries as a block, each country will take up the burden of financing the section of the railway under its territory.

The completion of the Mombasa-Kampala-Kigali project is set for March 2018, although Kenya had earlier indicated that the Mombasa-Malaba railway will be completed by 2017.

Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda) and Paul Kagame (Rwanda) resolved to upgrade the Tororo-Gulu-Nimule line to standard gauge railway line by March 2018 and extend the railway line from Kigali to Bujumbura by March 2018.

Kenya has already issued tender invites for consultancy services for design and construction supervision of a 500km standard gauge railway line from Mombasa to Nairobi.