{UAH} Uganda denies claims new rail over-priced

Uganda denies claims new rail over-priced

MOMBASA, Kenya - The East African Standard Gauge Railway is not over-priced, Uganda's Minister for Works and Transport, John Byabagambi said recently in first public comments addressing concerns over the cost of the region's largest infrastructure project writes JOSEPH BURITE.

The project which involves Kenya, Rwanda, Southern Sudan and Uganda in the Northern Corridor Infrastructure Initiative is reasonably priced, Byabagambi told reporters after inspecting Kenya's section of the railway under construction at Mtito Andei, 235 kilometres from Mombasa in Kenya's Taita Taveta and Makueni Counties.

"You have to consider a lot of factors. From Mombasa to Nairobi it's relatively flat but the section from Nairobi to Malaba will encounter the rift valley so there will be tunneling," he said in response to questions. 

He said, "Once you cross over to Uganda, you start meeting lakes and rivers. You have to pass Lake Victoria, River Mpologoma and River Nile as well as swamps. The cost on the Ugandan side is just more by about $100mn compared to Kenya."

Byabagambi, who chairs the Standard Gauge Railway Joint Ministerial Committee of the four countries, said comparison with other countries found the region was getting a "Class A" railway line at a fair price.

"We have benchmarked on prices. We travelled to China, India and Ethiopia as a cluster to benchmark on prices and we found that we have got the reasonable price for a 'Class A' standard Gauge Railway," he said.

He said there had been a debate within the committee on whether to adopt 'Class B' at a cheaper price or the even cheaper "Class C" but "Class A" was selected for safety reasons.

"We saw in Ethiopia that they started with Class C but realized it was not good for them at a cost of $1.2 per kilometre. 

"They went to Class B for $4.2 per kilometer but they have eventually resolved to build Class A which is $6mn per kilometer," Byabagambi said.

Kenya is spending $4bn on the first phase from Mombasa to Nairobi, which will be extended to Malaba on the Ugandan border after that. Uganda will spend $8 billion on its section, which will connect to Rwanda and Southern Sudan.

Byabagambi commended work done by contractors, China Road and Bridge Corporation in Kenya saying the work it's truly encouraging.

"We have learnt many lessons from Kenya and their experience makes our work easy especially on land acquisition," he said.

Kenya's acting Cabinet Secretary for Transport James Macharia dismissed reports of cracks in bridge pillars as had been reported in sections of Kenyan press.

By Joseph Burite, Sunday, May 10th, 2015

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

"Even a small dog can piss on a tall Building", Jim Hightower

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