Germany okays Sudan-Kenya rail project

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 24, 2004 (PANA) — Plans for the construction of a Kenya-
Sudan rail link has been endorsed by German multi-national
investors who are expected here next Monday, as preparations to
get the project off the ground hot up.

The German Railway Construction firm, Thormaehlen Schweisstechnik
has actually signed a contract with the Kenyan government, the
separatist Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLA/M) and the
Ugandan government to commence the project.

The German government, which approved the 2,500-km rail link is
dispatching State Secretary Dr Andreas Wolf at the head of a
delegation of German investors to inspect the project, Kenya
Planning and National Development Professor Anyang’ Nyongo
indicated here Thursday.

The project has attracted Thyssan-Krupp, which has invested in
Southern Sudan and undertakes mining of gold, copper and diamonds
in the region.

The company with an annual turnover of 24 billion euro will
provide the rails while Pflerder, a concrete manufacturing
company will provide concrete sleepers for the rail project.

The construction of the railway from the Kenyan port city of
Mombasa to the southern Sudanese town of Juba will constitute the
first-ever stable link between Sudan and its neighbours and ease
the delivery of essential services in the vast region.

The rail network, estimated to cost about 5 billion US dollars
will link Kenya, Sudan and Uganda, and would enable Sudan to
export oil from the south through a pipeline via Port Sudan to
Mombasa, where it can be transported to Rwanda, DR Congo, Uganda
and Tanzania.

“Topographical survey between Kitale (Western Kenya) and Southern
Sudan region has been done. The study of the terrain has
confirmed the viability of the project,” Nyong’o affirmed.