Germany okays Sudan-Kenya rail project

Sep 29, 2004 (LiquidAfrica) — 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.