Kenya fails to secure $3.6b from China for third phase of SGR line to Kisumu
A section of the Nairobi-Naivasha standard gauge railway track under construction. China’s reluctance to fund the third phase of Kenya’s SGR project is seen as arising from poor performance of the cargo business on the initial Nairobi-Mombasa section, which began operation in July 2017. PHOTO | AFP
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta returned from China without funding for the third phase of his signature standard gauge railway (SGR)— a critical segment of the Northern Corridor project that is supposed to link the port of Mombasa with the Great Lakes Region’s landlocked states.
Instead, Kenya bagged some $400 million it says will be used to upgrade its 120-years old metre gauge railway to Malaba on the border with Uganda.
